


Volto Volta

by Ember_Keelty



Category: Seven Kingdoms: The Princess Problem (Visual Novel), フレッシュプリキュア! | Fresh Pretty Cure!, プリキュア | PreCure | Pretty Cure Series
Genre: F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-15
Updated: 2016-01-31
Packaged: 2018-04-14 20:57:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 11
Words: 27,056
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4579821
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ember_Keelty/pseuds/Ember_Keelty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Every seven years, each of the seven kingdoms sends seven young delegates to a peace summit on Vail Isle, culminating in seven weddings arranged by the venerable and mysterious Matchmaker. Two generations after a certain dark horse delegate brought the known world back from the brink of chaos, Lady Setsuna and her brothers are sent by their father, the Duke of Labyrinth in Jiyel, to use the summit to gather support for his planned coup. But with the new freedom suddenly afforded to her, and the exposure to other young people with worldviews so different from her own — particularly Love of Hise, a brash but compassionate lady pirate with a love of dancing — Setsuna begins to question whether her father's vision for her country is something she really wants.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sunday

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to Alice, for betaing.

            "Miki! Bukki! How long has it been since we met like this?"

            "Love! Entirely too long!"

            Princess Miki of Wellin, Inori "Bukki" of Skalt, and Love of Hise rushed from the separate corners in which their respective delegations had gathered and convened in a tight circle at the center of the Grand Hall, excitedly clasping each other's hands.

            "I see you both followed the advice in my letters and arrived at the welcome feast early," said Miki, with just a touch of smugness in her tone.

            "Of course!" said Bukki. "I've been preparing for the summit by reading all your letters on the subject over and over again, until I had them memorized."

            "I. Uh. Read them through thoroughly once," said Love, feeling a bit outdone.

            "Well, now we're together, and I can instruct you in person," said Miki. "We must keep our promise to each other and all put aside time each week to meet up, just the three of us. We'll have a tea party!"

            "And a horseback ride!" added Bukki.

            "And dancing!" Love chimed in.

            "There'll be picnicking!"

            "And bird-watching!"

            "And dancing!"

            "Love and her one-track mind." Miki giggled, and soon they were all laughing.

            "I'm so glad I have you two to look after me," said Bukki when the laughter subsided. "It's obvious I don't fit in with the other Skaltic delegates, and I'd be at a loss without true sisters in arms to fall back on."

            "Well, our mothers are as close as sisters," said Miki. "That makes us practically cousins, and family has to look out for each other."

            "Do you think we'll all get married here like they did?" Bukki asked, and Love couldn't quite tell from the tone of her voice whether or not she was hoping for an affirmative answer.

            "Even if we don't, we'll make lots of lifelong friends, just like they did," Love assured her. "Starting with each other, of course!" Bukki rewarded her with a genuine smile, and soon the three of them were discussing their plans for the coming weeks in depth.

            They were interrupted by a chestnut-haired boy asserting himself next to their little group and clearing his throat. "Excuse me, but could I borrow Love from you ladies?"

            "Excuse _me_ ," said Love, "but I'm catching up with my friends I've only been able to talk to in letters for years."

            "Love!" Miki all but gasped in horror. "Please forgive her, your highness — she's had a difficult voyage. Trouble sleeping with all the excitement, you know? But you'd never guess it to look at her, would you? Love, do go off and introduce yourself to _Prince Daisuke of Arland_. We'll meet again tomorrow before our appointments with the Matchmaker, yes?"

            As loathe as Love was to leave her friends behind, she knew better than to argue with Miki on matters of social grace. And there was at least one topic of interest she could think of to discuss with Prince Daisuke. "Oh, you're Princess Miyuki's brother? I've heard so much about her! Some claim she's the most graceful dancer in the Seven Kingdoms!"

            As she walked away with Daisuke, she heard Miki muttering under her breath, "Princess Miyuki's brother! That's an _original_ way to refer to the crown prince of Arland."

            "We've heard a lot about you, too," said Daisuke. "I understand that Hise selects its delegates through competitions, and that you won a dance contest to get here. Miyuki's been wanting to meet you ever since."

            "And I would love to meet her!" Love exclaimed. "Where is she?"

            "Uh. Still working on her beauty regimen, I think. But... I'm here! And I have a lot of respect for your accomplishment, too. I know from watching how hard my sister trains that dancing isn't as easy as those skilled at it make it look."

            "Do you dance too?" Love asked.

            "Not as well as you, I'm sure." Daisuke shot her a crooked grin. "Maybe you could teach me sometime?"

            "Sure! I plan to spend a lot of my free time in the ball room, so just drop by whenever, and if I'm there I can give you a lesson!" Love thought it over for a moment. "Hey, maybe I should offer lessons to all comers! That would be a good way to make friends, right? And I bet a lot of the delegates here could use it! Do you think your sister would help me with a project like that if I asked her nicely?"

            "She might," said Daisuke noncommittally. He looked irritated at something. Love couldn't imagine what.

            "I'm sorry if you're still upset about earlier," she tried. "That was kind of rude of me. You seem like a nice man, and I'm enjoying talking to you so far!"

            "Oh, no, I understand wanting to stick by your friends!" Daisuke reassured her quickly. "Especially friends like yours. Princess Miki is known throughout the kingdoms for her charms, and Inori is. Uh. Very articulate for a Skalt, from what I overheard."

            And just like that, the happy little bubble of pleasantness Love had felt bouncing in her chest popped.

            "Bukki speaks Common so well because she grew up hearing her mother speak it," she explained coldly. "Other Skalts can speak just fine in their own language. It's not a compliment to her to insult her countrywomen. But I guess I should have known better than to expect anything other than bigotry from Arlish royalty."

            "What? No! Me? I'm not— not a bigot!" Daisuke turned bright red, though whether from anger or embarrassment, Love couldn't tell. "Trust me, I've met a lot of bigots, and absolutely none of them would approach a pirate's daughter before the princess of Wellin!"

            "And now you're insulting _my_ countrywomen!" said Love. "If you like Miki so much, go talk to her! She's a lot better at putting up with unpleasant people than I am."

            "But I _don't_ like Princess Miki!" Daisuke blurted out. "I like you! The princess is beautiful, but you've got this... this shine in your eyes that I noticed the moment I saw you. And I really was impressed by what I heard about your performance at the dance competition. If I say I'm sorry, will you give me another chance?"

            "All right," said Love. "Say it."

            "I'm sorry."

            "For what?"

            Daisuke turned even redder and looked down at his shoes, but managed to say, "For making an insensitive comment about your friend."

            Love felt forgiveness creeping up on her. It wasn't every crown prince who could show contrition so humbly. "I _guess_ that's good enough. Drop by the ball room when I'm there, and I'll give you that dance lesson."

            "Thank you," said Daisuke, and looked up and smiled hopefully at her. Love smiled back. "Oh, I think that's Miyuki arriving now. I suppose you'll want me to introduce you?"

            "Yes!" said Love, and off the two of them went.

—

            "You're late," said the Dowager Countess Northa of Jiyel to Lady Setsuna and her brothers when they arrived at the welcome feast.

            "We are precisely on time," Shun objected.

            "You'll find that precision is not held in as high regard here as it is in your father's duchy," Northa answered coolly. "Many words, like 'punctuality,' have unusual meanings on the isle."

            "That's troubling," said Setsuna. "How can people be expected to continue to do as they're told once they've been told the wrong thing?"

            "You'll also find that doing as you're told is often not what's expected of you here."

            Setsuna arched an eyebrow. "More troubling still."

            "Anyhow," said Northa, "let's get down to business. Setsuna, your targets are Prince Daisuke of Arland, Prince Kazuki of Wellin, and Love of Hise, in that order of priority." As she spoke, she pointed each of them out with a wave of her fan. "Shun, Hayato, since Setsuna is our most important piece on the board at the moment, neither of you are to waste the time of any of her marks. Shun, I have discerned that Princess Miyuki of Arland and Princess Miki of Wellin — particularly the latter — have a considerable measure of influence over their younger brothers. See if you can't leverage some level of influence over _them_. Hayato..." Hayato perked up at the sound of his name, and Northa sighed. "Go make some friends."

            "Right!" said Hayato, and charged off into the crowd like a hound let off his leash.

            "I understand how you got away with skewing the test results in _our_ favor," whispered Shun. "But _him_?"

            "What you don't know can't hurt you," Northa said with a smile, and Setsuna inferred that the answer probably involved poison. "Now, I must get back to the other chaperones. Don't disappoint."

            "We won't," Shun and Setsuna said together, and set off on their separate but related missions. In spite of her words, Setsuna reflected that, while the Summit was most likely daunting for all of the delegates, it would prove especially challenging to navigate for an attendee whose goals were diametrically opposed to its stated purpose.

            The Seven Year Summit existed to prevent wars. Setsuna was there to start one.

            Really, it was the institution's own fault. Seven years ago, the crown prince of Jiyel had come home from Vail Isle married to a Skaltic barbarian and profoundly, dismayingly changed for the experience. She had somehow gotten it into his head that when he became emperor, he should introduce an increasingly bizarre and appalling series of so-called reforms: establishing public hospitals and schools funded primarily by taxes on those already wealthy enough to hire their own doctors and tutors, incentivizing the nobility to adopt meritorious heirs rather than having and passing down their titles to their own offspring, and, as a consequence of that last, allowing same-sex marriage. The current emperor seemed neither able to dissuade him nor willing to disinherit him. Even more troubling, he was succeeding in drumming up support from some of the more liberal-minded nobles, including those next in line to the throne after himself. Unfortunately, that meant the only way to save the country from falling into barbarism was to instigate a coup. Many of the more conservative nobles had already covertly pledged to support Duke Moebius of Labyrinth if he were to make the attempt, but Setsuna's father would need international support as well.

            Revaire seemed unlikely to want to get involved in another country's civil war after its own historically recent political turmoil, and anyhow, it was leaning liberal these days. Corval might have been a good bet under different circumstances, but there were no sufficiently high-ranking Corvali princes in attendance at this year's summit, and Setsuna doubted that she could poison her way through several of the most politically savvy men in the known world even with Northa's help. Skalt, of course, was at the root of the problem, and would not be the means of uprooting it.

            That left three options. The surest bet was Arland. Its royalty sympathized with Duke Moebius's conservatism, and, as it was a neighboring nation, might not be difficult to persuade to convert that sympathy into military support. Wellin was both further away and more moderate and therefore would be unlikely to lend its armies to the cause, but might at least be brought around to supporting Setsuna's family politically. Hise, on the other hand, was a case of high risk and high reward. It was much more politically aligned with the crown prince's views than with the duke's, but pirates could be mercenary, and a clever queen might be able to convince them that throwing their naval power behind Duke Moebius was in their best financial interest. Becoming queen of Hise would be a much more arduous process than becoming queen of Arland or Wellin; Setsuna would not only have to marry well and possibly clear the way for her spouse by disposing of the current monarch, but also ensure said spouse was _elected_. And, of course, there was also the principle of political purity to take into account: Setsuna's father might lose a bit of esteem from his followers if his daughter married a pirate, let alone a female one. It was still an option worth keeping open, but Northa was right to place a low priority on it.

            Love of Hise and Prince Daisuke were, somewhat worryingly, already talking to each other — and, for some odd reason, also to Princess Miyuki. Prince Kazuki was currently unengaged, so Setsuna approached and curtsied to him.

            "It's a pleasure to meet you, your highness. I am Lady Setsuna of Jiyel. Your own name precedes you."

            Kazuki smiled warmly at her. "Thank you for coming to talk to me, Lady Setsuna. If I may be honest, I was hoping to meet some interesting people from Jiyel this evening."        

            Setsuna smiled back. She had heard that the prince of Wellin had an interest in scholasticism, so his comment was unsurprising. "Oh, I hardly think that brief introduction was engaging enough for you to summarily judge me an interesting person," she answered flirtatiously. "But now that you've said that, I suppose I'll just have to live up to it."

            "Would it be too rude if I introduced a subject of some substance right away?" the prince asked. "I can make small talk if I have to, but there's a particular topic that I'm dying — well, I'm not dying, I shouldn't say that — that I'm anxious to learn more about."

            "Introduce away," said Setsuna, hoping desperately that the subject on his mind was one of the many she had studied in preparation for this very conversation.

            "Can you tell me," the prince asked, his eyes bright, "a bit about your country's plans for building public hospitals?"

           Setsuna's heart fell. She was careful to keep her face from doing the same. "Well, they can hardly be called plans just yet," she said slowly. "They're the wild dream of a man not yet on the throne."

            "But you must have some idea of the logistics," the prince pressed her.

            Setsuna launched into as neutral a description as she could manage, but did mention the unfairness of most of the money coming from citizens who would see no direct benefit from the scheme, and the illogic of encouraging healers to waste time and medicine on just anyone who walked in off the street to ask for it, even if their illness was primarily caused by poverty and poor diet.

            "That's an excellent point," said the prince. "So much of health is a matter of diet. Perhaps increasing access to a variety of food should take priority over building hospitals, even if it is less glamorous."

            Setsuna was considering whether it was worth trying to explain from the beginning why wealth redistribution of any kind was illogical, when Princess Miki suddenly appeared beside them.

            "There you are, Kazuki! I just had a talk with your butler, who took me to have a talk with the kitchen staff. They'll know now only to serve you meat and vegetables in butter, with fresh fruit in heavy cream for dessert." Then she started a little and turned to Setsuna, as though seeing her for the first time. "Oh! I'm sorry! Lady Setsuna of Jiyel, isn't it? It's a pleasure to meet you." She dipped into a curtsy.

            "A pleasure," Setsuna replied, curtsying back. She did not ask about the princess's strange comment regarding her brother's diet, as she was fairly certain it was a trap. "We were just discussing hospitals."

            "Lady Setsuna thinks they're untenable," said the prince. "But I'm optimistic they can be made to work eventually."

            "Well of course you are!" said the princess, before turning again to Setsuna. "My brother has such a kind heart. He keeps saying about his condition: 'if I'd been born a peasant, I'd be dead by now'. Sometimes I worry it keeps him up at night."

            The prince blushed. "Sister! I don't need your help impressing her!" But judging from the slight strain in his sister's smile, Setsuna doubted that was even her intention.

            As a noblewoman of Jiyel, Setsuna knew enough about medicine to put two and two together. Prince Kazuki suffered from seizures and, consequently, might very well die young. If he died with an heir, his queen could become regent — a tantalizing possibility. But if he died without an heir, the throne would go to some cousin, and his queen would be left with nothing but a courtesy title. If it took them a while to conceive, or if their first child were a girl, or, God forbid, if it inherited his disorder and died... It was simply too much risk when there were other options available for seizing a throne. Princess Miki knew that, and was testing Setsuna's intentions.

            Well, Setsuna supposed it was inevitable she would fail a test sooner or later. At least this was one she didn't particularly care about passing.

            "Is this a meeting of families? Shame on you, your highnesses — two on one isn't fair." And there was Shun.

            Princess Miki turned her smile on him. "I have enough virtues that I think I can safely skimp on the tendency to play fair."

            "Very true. I doubt there is a nobleman in all the seven kingdoms who has not heard of your many excellent qualities. If all of them are as understated by the rumors as is your beauty, fairness may simply be an impossibility."

            "Well, I _am_ perfect," said the princess, and not in a remotely ironic tone. Setsuna felt her jaw drop, but Shun simply laughed politely and led the princess away.

            "I suppose I've taken up enough of your time," said the prince. "Thank you for the enlightening discussion, Lady Setsuna."

            "It was my pleasure," said Setsuna, and swept off to find a more promising target.

            Somehow, the Arlish royal siblings were _still_ conversing with Love. Their little group was starting to draw stares. Setsuna decided that an intervention was in order.

            "—more about the Corvali styles. They're not considered proper for an Arlish princess," the princess was saying as Setsuna approached.

            "I'm afraid I don't know much about them either," said Love. "We'll have to befriend one of the Corvali delegates and get her in on our plans!"

            The two of them were grinning in a most unladylike manner. The prince looked miserable, and neither of them seemed to notice.

            "Good evening your highness," said Setsuna with a curtsy. "Would you like to be rescued from all this talk of... dancing, is it?" Setsuna herself had only the most cursory of training in dance. Her father considered it a frivolous pursuit, and, as in most things, Setsuna felt certain he was right.

            "What? No. It's fascinating!" the prince lied through his teeth.

            "Even so, perhaps you should give your sister some space to make friends on her own?" Setsuna suggested.

            "She's been 'making friends' with Love since she got here," the prince complained. " _I've_ barely had a chance to talk to Love."

            "And whose fault is that?" asked Love obliviously. "You're free to join in at any time!" Suddenly, she saw Setsuna. "Oh, hello there, Lady! What's your name?"

            "It's Setsuna," said Setsuna, with a much smaller curtsy than she had given so far, as was appropriate for the discrepancy between a pirate's daughter and a prince or princess. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Love of Hise. I have heard so much of your mother from her relatives back in Jiyel." Since the Jiyelan nobles of Setsuna's acquaintance were all of a conservative bent, most of what she'd heard was bafflement at her choice of husband, but she decided not to mention that.

            "She is a kind and beautiful woman," said Love.

            "As, I'm sure, is her daughter," said Setsuna with a coy smile.

            "Oh, come on!" said Daisuke despairingly. "Are you going to talk to _her_ now?"

            "Why shouldn't I?" asked Love. "She's pretty, and polite, and she's from Jiyel, so I'm sure she'll have plenty of interesting things to say."

            "So, what? You're just going to spend the whole evening talking to other women instead of potential husbands?"

            "If I can manage it!" said Love. "Lady Setsuna?"

            "Yes?"

            "I'm going to kidnap you now!" And then she grabbed Setsuna's hand and ran.

            Love's hand was warm, but rough with callouses. It was a pirate's hand, a hand unlike any other Setsuna had ever touched. The incongruity of such an unladylike hand with Love's elegant pink dress and sweetly pretty face jarred Setsuna into remembering that Love was, in fact, a pirate, and for a moment she feared that she would actually be dragged out to the docks and onto a waiting ship. But once they were halfway across the Grand Hall, Love stopped and let go of Setsuna.

            "Sorry about that," she said with a laugh. "I'm really bad at ending conversations politely."

            "I'm a little disappointed," said Setsuna, regaining her composure. "When a pirate says she's going to kidnap me, I expect a bit more than that."

            "But isn't the law in Jiyel that forcing someone to move somewhere, even if it's just across the room, counts as kidnapping?" Love asked.

            "Why, so it is! Though usually, to be prosecuted, such a case would have to involve the threat of deadly force and a much less willing victim. Still, I had no idea that pirates were so well-versed in the law."

            Love winked. "We want to be sure that if we ever break it, it's on purpose."

            Setsuna laughed. Even though it was a calculatedly polite laugh, she realized, much to her surprise, that there was a touch of genuine amusement to it. Love was ridiculous. Laws were not meant to be broken, on purpose or otherwise, and the intent in breaking them hardly mattered. But this pirate's daughter was just so earnest in her absurd declaration. Setsuna was beginning to see why she was considered one of the most likely candidates for the next monarch of Hise. She certainly had the charm to win a popular election. All she needed was a spouse with sufficient political savvy to turn that charm to its best effect.

            "I infer from your comment to Prince Daisuke that you are not looking to marry a man. I suppose you would prefer a wife who will support your own ambitions to a husband who will expect you to support his?" An unusually direct approach seemed best for dealing with such an unusually direct woman.

            Love shook her head. "I think that people who are married to each other should support each other equally!"

            "A fine thought. But surely you must agree there should be a division in the form that support takes, even if it does not run down the traditional gender line. After all, there can only be one monarch — and a monarch's consort."

            "That's true," Love conceded. "But it's far too early for me to think about becoming queen. Right now, my only ambition is to find happiness — and of course I want whoever I marry to be equally happy!"

            "That's very sweet of you." Sweet, and insipid. "But marriage is a lifelong commitment. If you have any interest in securing the crown, even far into the future, you must look to marry someone who will make a suitable queen consort."

            "Someone like you?" Setsuna could detect no trace of sarcasm in the question.

            "Perhaps." Setsuna brought her fan up as though to hide a blush, but in truth it was to conceal a triumphant smirk. "But I just asked you a very daring question. Surely there are things you would like to know about me, as well."

            "Yes! I would like to know whether you dance!"

            "Passably."

            "All right! Then by the time you leave the isle, you'll dance masterfully! I mean, if that's what you want."

            "If you're offering personal lessons, how could I possibly refuse?"

            "You can refuse any offer you want to," Love insisted. "If one idea doesn't sound fun to you, I'll just think of something else. What do _you_ usually do for fun?"

            "I'm afraid I don't have much free time to pursue leisure activities. When I'm not eating or sleeping, I am usually studying."

            "Then what's your favorite thing to study?"

            What a bizarre question. "Politics, I suppose." That was the subject she was best at, which was close enough to enjoying it.

            "Oh! Well, that's lucky for you! I'm sure you'll get plenty of opportunities to discuss that while we're at the summit. I hope it makes you happy."

            There it was again: that odd obsession with temporal happiness and ignorance of long-term consequences. Were all pirates hedonists? Was that what would become of Jiyel's population if the crown prince got his way? "And I dearly hope that you will be able to dance to your heart's content. Now, since you apparently have difficulty ending conversations, I suppose that unpleasant burden falls on me. It was a pleasure to meet you, Love."

            "It was a pleasure meeting you too! I look forward to seeing you again later this week." She took Setsuna's hand once again to give it a quick squeeze, then turned and left.

            With that, it was time for Setsuna to move on to the main event. She quickly relocated Prince Daisuke and apologized for stealing Love away from him.

            "I think she rather stole _you_ ," said the prince. Setsuna laughed as though that were very clever and not at all exactly the joke she had purposefully set him up for.

            The two of them settled easily into a polite conversation filled with all the usual niceties, but something seemed to be distracting the prince. Finally, he blurted out, "Do the Arlish have some special reputation for prejudice?"

            Setsuna hesitated. It seemed impossible that he could _not_ know the answer to that, so it would be of little use to deny it, but simply affirming it would hardly be polite. "I'm afraid that is a reputation suffered by many with traditional values," she finally settled on. "My own family included."

            "I don't think that's the same thing. Aren't Jiyelan traditions different from ours? With the ancestor worship and all that?"

            "I think it's more important to adhere to a time-tested system proven to work than what that particular system is." Of course, neither praying to ancestors nor to a God was in any way to proven to 'work' in the sense of directly accomplishing anything, but the ritual of both served an important social purpose. "And anyhow, though we may differ in religion, I think you'd be surprised at how closely Arlish politics match up with my own."

            The prince sighed. "I'm sorry. We shouldn't be talking about politics on our first... second... meeting. I'm just worried that I seriously offended someone with what I believed was a perfectly innocent comment. I thought she had forgiven me, but then you came along, and she... did _that._ Now I'm afraid I might not have the greatest understanding of what is and isn't 'innocent' to anyone who isn't Arlish."

            Oh. So that was what was going on.

            Setsuna felt her smile stiffen. Of course the prince of Arland had to go and be infatuated with Love at first sight. Why should anything go smoothly for her? Not only would this make him harder to pursue, it meant she would risk earning his enmity if she chose to pursue Love. With the prince of Wellin all but eliminated as an option, that left her in an extremely delicate position.

            Setsuna quickly changed the subject to the feast's decorations, and successfully brought the conversation back into calmer waters. But she spent the rest of the evening with one thought running through her head:

            _That idiot girl is going to ruin everything._


	2. Moonday

            After a delightful breakfast and a far less delightful application of cosmetics, Love was escorted to the door of the Matchmaker's chamber, outside of which a handful of other delegates were already waiting around. Among them, Bukki stood leaning against one of the pillars closest to the door, staring at it with an odd concentration.

            "Hello, Bukki!" Bukki started at the sound of Love's voice, although Love had tried to make noise as she'd approached to avoid just that. "Do you think Miki is still working on her makeup? Normally I think girls are prettier without any, but she's such an artist, she might be an exception. I wouldn't be surprised if it takes her a long time."

            "Hello, Love. No, Miki's in there." Bukki nodded toward the door. "It's been a while. I'm worried about her."

            "I'm not," said Love. "If anyone can impress the Matchmaker, I'm sure it's her."

            No sooner had she finished saying so than the door opened and Miki walked out, head held high and with a slight but satisfied smile on her face.

            "But you really must stop going around calling yourself perfect!" the voice of the Matchmaker called after her. "It's tempting Fate — and, more importantly, it's tempting _me_."

            Miki laughed, melodious and haughty and genuinely delighted. She spotted Love and Bukki and walked over to them as the next candidate was ushered in and the doors closed behind him.

            "That went well," she said.

            "I knew she wouldn't be able to find anything to criticize about you!" said Love.

            "Oh, she found a few things," said Miki. "But I could tell she was reaching. Whatever she says to you, don't let it get to you. She really does pick apart _everyone_."

            "Um. I don't really find that encouraging," said Bukki.

            "You'll do fine," Miki assured her. "I understand she has different expectations for Skaltic delegates anyhow."

            "I don't find that encouraging either!"

            "Then how about this: you're smart, and the Matchmaker approves of smart girls. You're an excellent horsewoman, so you must be graceful. And you're impossible not to like, which is the greatest possible advantage any diplomat could have."

            "You're right." Bukki smiled weakly. " _That_ does make me feel a bit better. Thank you, Miki."

            "But of course! I'm perfect! Now, I know we agreed to meet for tea after our interviews to discuss our plans for the coming week, but invitations have already been arranged, and I'm dying to know: are either of you planning to meet with anyone special?"

            "I invited Princess Miyuki to breakfast tomorrow," said Love, "so we can discuss our _secret plan_!" She wiggled her fingers mysteriously for emphasis. "And Lady Setsuna to dancing, later in the week."

            "I haven't met anyone special yet," said Bukki. "Maybe I'll spend most of my time this week in the stables, getting to know the horses. I know that's not a very good plan if I want to make something of myself, but..."

            "It's a fine plan," said Miki. "If you run into any other delegates there, you'll know that they're interested in horses, so you can impress them with your expertise."

            That got another smile out of Bukki. "That's true! Have you invited anyone, Miki?"

            "I expect to be receiving more invitations than I'll know what to do with, so no." She paused, as though suddenly remembering something. "Well— actually, I did send _one_. But it was a special circumstance."

            "Oooh!" Love clasped her hands together excitedly. "Miki's in love!"

            "Not _that_ kind of special," Miki assured her.

            "Then what kind? Tell us about it!"

            "Only if you tell us what your secret plans with Miyuki are."

            "I'll tell you after I've officially set them up with her!"

            "Then I'll tell you after I've had my date," Miki said with finality.

            "Wasn't breakfast incredible?" Bukki asked, as the conversation reached a lull. "I wish I knew the names of all the different types of pastries they serve here, but I was afraid my butler would think I was stupid if I asked."

            " _I_ didn't know the names of all of them," said Love. "And I don't care. What matters is that they were all delicious!"

            "You'll want to know if you ever want to ask the staff for a specific kind," Miki pointed out.

            "Oh, yeah!"

            "Not to worry though," said Miki, "I can educate both of you on the finer points of pastry taxonomy when we meet for tea."

            They spent a while amiably discussing first the food on the isle, then the sleeping arrangements, then the eccentricities of their respective butlers, all while delegates came and went from the Matchmaker's chamber. Finally, Bukki was called in, putting an end to their conversation.

            Love and Miki each took hold of one of her hands before she left. "You'll be perfect," Miki told her.

            "And get your happiness!" Love added.

            "Thank you," said Bukki, squeezing both their hands. "I believe in both of you, so if you believe in me... I suppose I should believe in myself, too!"

            "Don't keep me waiting, girl!" the Matchmaker's voice called out.

            "Sorry!" Bukki called back, and hurried into her chamber.

            A silence stretched between Love and Miki for a long few minutes, until Love blurted out nervously, "Yellow is a good color on her, don't you think? I can't wear it. It washes out the yellow in my hair. But when you wear blue, it brings out the blue in your eyes. Do you know why it works like that?" That was enough to start Miki off on a friendly lecture about the many ways that the appearance of one's hair, eyes, and complexion could be enhanced or diminished by the color of one's clothes.

            She was interrupted by the doors opening yet again, and Bukki emerging in tears.

            "Running away, are we?" the Matchmaker shouted after her. "Well, it's not as though I'm frequently wrong, but it's good to know for sure when I'm right! It's beyond me how anyone so fearless around thousand-pound beasts could be so quick to shy away from the slightest social conflict!"

            "Bukki, it's all right," Miki said, running over to her. "You can save this! Just wipe those tears off and march right back in there!"

            "I can't!" Bukki sobbed. "I'm not brave enough! I'll never fit in back in Skalt, because I'm not brave enough! I thought if I came here, I could find somewhere I belonged... but I don't belong anywhere, do I? Cowards aren't wanted anywhere!" Then she collapsed into Miki's arms.

            For a moment, Love stood stunned. She felt tears pricking at the corners of her own eyes, but she wiped them away. Then her legs began to move of their own accord. She drifted into the center of the portal, stretched out her arms to hold the doors on either side of her open, and spoke very, very calmly.

            "I don't know what you said to her, but I know that it was wrong. Bukki is the sweetest, kindest, smartest girl I know, and anyone would be lucky to have her as a wife. I'm lucky just to have her as a friend. I'd heard you were mean, but I thought there must be a good reason for it. Now I know better. You're nothing but a bully."

            There was a collective gasping and drawing-in of breath from behind her. Before her, the Matchmaker stared her down impassively.

            "What exactly are you trying to accomplish?" she asked.

            "What do you mean?"

            "What do I mean? Your goal, child! Surely you must have one, to be making such a spectacle of yourself. Do you think you're going to change my mind about your friend? Or that she'll feel better about herself if you make a worse first impression on me than she did? No? Then perhaps you think I'll be impressed by your courage? Well, I might be, but courage without a purpose behind it is simply recklessness."

            Love stood dumb, choking on fizzling rage. That was right: she wanted to help Bukki. This wouldn't do that. What had she been thinking?

            She couldn't recall thinking anything at all.

            "There's no point now in holding an interview with _you_ ," the Matchmaker continued. "I hear you’re an excellent dancer, but at some point your future spouse is presumably going to want to have an actual conversation, which you seem shockingly unequipped to handle. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a candidate as lacking in tact as you are, and I’m counting the ladies from Skalt. Now drop that ridiculous pose and leave.”

            Love turned around, and heard the doors slam shut behind her as she let them go. She was met with dozens of eyes staring at her in varying shades of shock.

            "Let's go to tea," Bukki said quietly, her tiny voice almost engulfed by the deafening silence.

            "Bukki, I'm so sorry," Love blurted out. "You should go back to your room and—"

            "No," said Bukki. "I promised. We all did. Tea."

            Love nodded, straightened her back, and linked her arm with Bukki's. Miki took her other arm, and the three of them made their way down the hall, ignoring the eyes that bored into the backs of their necks the whole way.

—

            Setsuna was not present for the incident, but she heard about it as soon as she arrived outside the Matchmaker's chamber. It was all anyone could talk about as they waited for their own interviews.

            What it meant for her plans, she could not quite decide. On the one hand, it might improve her chances with Prince Daisuke if Love were sent away in disgrace, or if her shameful display killed his infatuation with her. On the other hand, she had already succeeded in securing Love's interest, and it would be a shame to lose her as a backup plan. Besides which, this little outburst of hers suggested a couple of interesting things about her: that she was fiercely loyal, which could be useful to anyone who managed to win her loyalty, and that she was hot-tempered, which could be useful in turning her mind to war. That she was atrociously tactless was old news, and probably not of much consequence in the long term: that sort of thing seemed unlikely to matter much to a bunch of commoners and pirates, whose support was all that was needed to become the king or queen of Hise.

            And there was one other interesting thing: the way that people were speaking of her after the incident.

            " _Sure, it was stupid, but I wish I had the guts to give that old crone a piece of my mind like that."_

_"No you don't. It would end about as well for you."_

_"Well, yeah... But still. I'm glad someone did it, even if it wasn't me._ Especially _if it wasn't me."_

_"I know what you mean. And she did it for her friend, not herself, so... I don't know, it almost feels like she did it for all of us."_

Admiration. Everywhere Setsuna turned, the conversation was tinged with admiration. Unbelievable — as though there were anything admirable about letting your emotions control you.

Setsuna was let in through the doors. She curtsied and greeted the Matchmaker with perfect etiquette, and was rewarded with a gruff command to pour some tea. Swallowing her indignation at being treated like a servant — surely, that was part of the test — she did so. Of course she noticed the all-too-convenient little pharmaceutical set out innocently along with the tea, and of course she pointedly ignored it, and when the Matchmaker called her out on not taking every available advantage, Setsuna replied that she happened to know it was possible to develop an immunity to that particular herb, and she would be shocked if such a legendarily wise and formidable woman had not done just that. She then seamlessly wove the subject into a discussion on the cutting edge of pharmacology and botany, making sure to stick to topics that would be of interest to a layperson. It was all going very well, until suddenly, it wasn't.

            "As a Jiyelan noblewoman with an interest in botany, I suppose you must have a good deal in common with Dowager Countess Northa," the Matchmaker commented.

            Setsuna hesitated. There were no shortage of rumors about exactly _how_ Countess Northa had become a dowager, but could the Matchmaker really be referring to that? "I suppose so. She is a friend of my father's, so we have had several opportunities for conversation over the years, and they've always proved enlightening."

            "I see. It's interesting how many friends and relatives of your father's are at this year's summit. I'm especially curious about that Hayato boy. I already asked _him_ how exactly he passed the exams. He seemed to misunderstand the question, as he responded by launching into a tedious description of his study habits — which, I have to say, were _not_ impressive. I didn't have the heart to correct him, but perhaps you can shed some light on the subject."

            Setsuna sat in stunned silence for a moment before stupidly blurting out, "How should I know anything about that? I'm his sister, not his retainer."

            "Too bad for him. He could use a retainer."

            "What exactly are you implying?"

            "I'm implying that your father overplayed his hand," the Matchmaker said, in the same gruff, matter-of-fact tone as everything else that came out of her mouth. "I don't know how involved you are, and I don't believe in visiting the sins of the father upon his children, but right now, I have serious doubts about the wisdom in arranging a beneficial marriage for any of you three. I expect you to be on your best behavior, Lady Setsuna. I will be watching you, and if I discover that you pose a danger to anyone here, or to the diplomatic process itself, you and your brothers will be gone from this island. Do I make myself clear?"

            "It hardly seems fair to—" Setsuna began.

            "I _said_ , do I make myself clear?" the Matchmaker repeated, and seemed almost to swell in size as she spoke, though her volume remained the same.

            Setsuna was silent for a moment. She had very little idea how to answer a question like that from someone ranked so low beneath her. "Yes," she finally settled on. "You do."

            "Good. You may go."

            Setsuna did, walking out through the doors with her face burning with rage and shame.

            Shun was there waiting for her. "It went well, I take it?" he said with an ironic smirk.

            Setsuna pulled herself together enough to manage a saccharine smile. "Oh, I'm sure you'll see _exactly_ how well it went presently."

            Then she swept off to retire to her room.

—

            Love and her friends were unusually somber as they waited in the parlor for tea to be brought.

            "Do you think I'll be sent home immediately?" Love asked. "Or will they at least let me spend the night and leave in the morning?"

            "Oh, Love. Who says you're being sent home?" Miki asked. "There's still the second interview in the third week."

            "But the Matchmaker didn't even want to meet me for a _first_ interview!" Love cried despairingly.

            "I'm really sorry," said Bukki. "This is all my fault, isn't it?"

            "No!" Love choked down the lump in her throat and made her best attempt at a reassuring smile, though she was afraid it came out horribly crooked. "Bukki, you're my good friend. If I'd actually been able to help you, I wouldn't regret anything. I'm just afraid I hurt both of us — so I'm the one who should be apologizing."

            A servant entered with a large tray of tea and baked sweets, which he set down on their table with a showy flourish. "Here you go, ladies. I brought extra sugar, to sweeten that sour mood."

            "Wait a minute," said Miki. "Aren't you the dessert chef? What's a chef doing serving tea?"

            "When I have the time, I like to get to know the delegates," the chef answered. "I guess you could say... it's my hobby to hobnob with the nobs. Ha!" Miki and Bukki just stared bemusedly, but Love giggled in spite of herself, and the chef shot her an appreciative grin. "But seriously. I hope I don't sound presumptuous, but I'm a bit of a misfit myself, and I like to look out for other unusual people, whatever their rank. From what I hear, you, Lady Love, are a very unusual person. I hope I can be of service to you."

            "It's just Love, not Lady," said Love. "I'm Hisean, after all. And I appreciate your offer, but I'm not sure I'll be allowed to stay here long enough to take you up on it."

            "I wouldn't worry about that. You'd have to commit something a lot worse than a breach of etiquette to get sent home before the second round of interviews. I'm going be give it to you straight, though: now that you've gotten on the Matchmaker's bad side, it's going to take a lot to change her mind by the third week."

            "So how do we do it?" Love asked. "I mean, Bukki and me — Miki's perfect."

            "The best way to impress the Matchmaker," said the chef, "is to impress everyone else first. Win friends. Gather respect. Secure marriage prospects. The delegate-hosted events at the end of the week are a good opportunity for that, but you'll have to act before the end of the day if you want to put on one of those."

            "I was planning on hosting a tea," said Miki. "But... I suppose it's more important that I support my friends for now. I can make up for it some other week."

            "I was thinking maybe a musicale?" said Love. "I wanted to hold a dance, but Tarte — that's my butler — said that would be inappropriate for the first week."

            "I wasn't planning on hosting anything," said Bukki, looking down at her hands folded in her lap.

            "What about an academic lecture?" asked Miki. "You can invite a noted natural philosopher to the isle to give a talk on biology. If I show up, it will even seem fashionable... sorry, Love."

            "I understand!" said Love. "There are plenty of other people I can invite."

            "I've got just the thing for refreshments," said the chef. "Little jellies shaped like the birds and flowers of the isle!"

            "That... does sound like fun," said Bukki, smiling slightly for the first time since her interview.

            "We'll have to plan both your invitations carefully, to make sure they don't overlap," Miki said.

            "I call Princess Miyuki and Lady Setsuna!" said Love. "And maybe their brothers will want to come with them?"

            "Perhaps! Though I think Lord Shun might prefer the lecture..."

            The chef cleared his throat. "I should really get back to the kitchen," he said. "If you ladies need anything else, you know where to find me."

            "That's fine!" said Love. "Thank you for your advice... uh..?"

            "The name's Kaoru," said the chef. "I would have said so earlier, but I've found not all the delegates want to know it. I don't blame them — I know your pretty heads are all stuffed full of everything from etiquette to war tactics. Me, I can afford to learn names." He rapped his knuckles against his temple. "Nothing up here but cookery! Ha!" This time, all three of the girls laughed obligingly. Kaoru bowed and left them to their tea.

            "I wonder if the stable hands are that nice," said Bukki. "I hope so."

            "I'm sure they are," said Miki. "All the staff members I've talked to so far have been perfectly lovely."

            "I agree," said Love. "We're all going to have a fun seven weeks, aren't we?" Her friends nodded in agreement.

            Love was determined that it would definitely be seven.


	3. Waterday

Prince Kazuki had invited Setsuna to breakfast in the garden. Because it was one of disappointingly few invitations she had managed to secure, she had accepted. Love had sent her a personal invitation to practice dancing on Windday, and a significantly less personal one to attend a musicale she was hosting Starday morning. A particularly tedious little Arlish baron who seemed to think it was his duty to marry a Jiyelan girl had invited her to tea, but she had been unable to force herself to accept. Prince Daisuke had sent her nothing. Setsuna supposed she would have to be more forward with him.

            The servants had set up a small table in between two rose hedges. Like a proper prince, Kazuki pulled out Setsuna's chair for her before seating himself. Setsuna wondered briefly how someone with such impeccable manners could seemingly have such little concern for the traditions that actually mattered.

            Kazuki's place was set with nothing but a plate of eggs and fatty bacon and a bowl of yoghurt mixed with chopped fruit. Setsuna's spread, on the other hand, included meat and eggs, but also a wide variety of pastries, and her yoghurt contained honey and granola as well as fresh berries.

            The prince caught her looking. "Oh, don't worry, I'm entirely used to it," he assured her. "In fact, I find it pleasant to watch my meal companions enjoying the foods that I can't eat. Do savor those pastries for me, Lady Setsuna."

            "I'm afraid I may not be able to eat all of them" said Setsuna. "I wonder why they gave me so many. It seems like a waste."

            "Perhaps they wanted to be sure they included your favorite," suggested the prince, "but were unsure which it was."

            "How illogical. I eat what's put in front of me."

            "Then you are less finicky than a good deal of nobles," said the prince. "And not just ones with my excuse for finickiness. But perhaps you'll surprise yourself — they do say that eating outdoors improves appetite."

            The air was redolent of sun-warmed dew evaporating from fragrant petals. It did, Setsuna found, seem to be inciting in her a more than normal desire for food. Whether Prince Kazuki proved useful to her plans or not, this was all shaping up to be a pleasant breakfast with unobjectionable company.

            And then _they_ showed up.

            "Sister!" the prince exclaimed with delight.

            Setsuna followed his gaze and echoed, in as close to the same exultant tone as she could force herself to put on, "Brother!"

            Shun and Princess Miki were strolling through the gardens, arms linked casually, with Shun's hand holding a small book open between them. The princess looked away from the page at the sound of her brother's voice, and smiled. "Kazuki! You look like you're enjoying yourself! Lady Setsuna, I must say I envy you that spread — I didn't have time for much in the way of a breakfast before I came to meet Lord Shun out here, and now my stomach is objecting in a most imperfect fashion."

            "Then you should join us!" said Kazuki. "You know how important for your health it is to eat a good breakfast." Before Setsuna could think of a polite way of objecting, he gestured to the servant standing watch. "Could you please bring two more chairs and some extra food? Thank you." The servant nodded and left to do so, and soon Shun and Princess Miki were seated at the table — a tight fit, since it was really made for two.

            "Lady Setsuna," said the princess after a brief round of polite chatter, "my brother has told me all about your discussion at the welcome feast. Would I be correct in supposing you don't feel any more favorably to the future Jiyelan emperor's other proposed reforms?"

            "They just don't seem very practical," said Setsuna. "I confess, I don't see much point in spending so much money and taking so many risks for such an experimental new system, when the system currently in place works just fine."

            "Well, it works for some people," said the princess.

            "It works for society as a whole," said Setsuna. "It's pointless to break a country down person by person and examine them all individually. You'll never be able to please everyone."

            "I don't see what a country is if not the sum of its people," said Miki. "But it is possible to place a greater weight on the happiness of some individuals than others. It's true that the proposed reforms would in some ways undermine the strength of the nobility."

            "But in other ways," the prince chimed in, "that's exactly the class who will most benefit from them — I mean in terms of freedom of choice regarding marriage, children, and bequeathment."

            His sister smiled proudly at him. "True. And a noble class built at least in part of the most deserving rather than whomever fickle Fate decides to have born into it will surely be more resilient. Doesn't that fit well with your country's philosophy of merit?"

            "Perhaps," said Setsuna, who could tell this was not an argument she was going to win.

            "Of course," said the princess, her tone softening, "if your primary concern is the well-being of your own family, I am not unsympathetic to that." She gently laid a hand on her brother's shoulder, to illustrate the source of her sympathy.

            "You've caught me," lied Setsuna. "You know how it is with brothers. I can always marry outside of Jiyel to secure my future, but Shun will be the Duke of Labyrinth someday, while poor, dear Hayato must continue to live as an unlanded nobleman — a precarious position even in more stable times."

            "I'm sure such concerns are inevitable for a woman with such a loyal and dutiful heart as yours," said the princess, smiling just a bit too pleasantly. "But do try to take solace in how exceptional your family has already proven. Why, it's practically unheard of for three children of the same father to score well enough on the Jiyelan exams to go to the summit in the same year."

            This was entering dangerous territory. Setsuna needed a distraction. She looked to Shun, hoping he could provide one, and found him staring intently down into his lap instead of eating. Setsuna craned her neck to see what he was looking at, and found he had the book he had brought with him laying open beneath the table. "Shun! What in the world has come over you? You know better than to read at mealtime!"

            Shun started, flushing with embarrassment, and offered his apologies first to Setsuna, then to the princess.

            "Actually, I'm relieved," said Princess Miki with a polite laugh. "When you brought along that volume of Jiyelan nature poetry and suggested we read to each other from it as we looked at the flowers, I thought you were laying it on a bit thick. It's good to know that you genuinely enjoy it."

            "It's not the quality I am most proud of in myself," said Shun. "My father has always praised me for how studious I am, devouring volumes of history and natural philosophy like Hayato devours baked sweets. I think he would be less impressed if he knew that I also just appreciated the beauty of the written word for its own sake, even when there's little to be learned from what it's expressing."

            "I think there's plenty to be learned from poetry," said the princess. "It provides a unique window into the human mind."

            "That... is a surprisingly good point," said Shun slowly, and Setsuna could tell he was genuinely impressed. "I had never thought of it like that before."

            "Of course," the princess continued, "you can learn the most from the minds most unlike your own. Are you at all familiar with any of the poetic traditions from outside of Jiyel?"

            "No, I'm afraid not."

            "If you like," said the princess, "after breakfast we can walk to the grand library, and I can help you pick out some books of Wellish poetry. If that's not too much of a demand on your time, of course."

            "Princess Miki, I can think of no better use for it."

            _No?_ Setsuna thought. _Not even speaking to other people you're more likely to win over to our cause? Or were you so enthralled with your reading, you completely missed that whole rock-headedly liberal diatribe?_

After that, the discussion turned from politics to poetry — a much safer topic. At least, it was safer for Setsuna, and for the prospect of continued civility. Setsuna could no longer say for sure there was not some danger in it for her brother. She wondered whether this was how things had started with the emperor's son and his bride. Princess Miki was far from a barbarian, but she was still a foreign woman with odd ideas.

            Setsuna counted herself lucky to have been born a woman and immune to the wiles of her own gender.

—

            On the way back to her room, Setsuna ran into Love in the halls.

            "Hello, Setsuna!" she said. "Beautiful morning, isn't it? I love this island air! I can catch a whiff of the sea even indoors!"

            Setsuna's eyebrows popped at Love's choice of address. "My, so familiar already!" She found it was easier than it might have been to sound flirtatious rather than affronted. It was not as though she truly expected any different from the girl who'd insulted the Matchmaker to her face — and Setsuna noted she seemed to have recovered surprisingly quickly from that traumatic incident.

            "You've agreed to go dancing one-on-one tomorrow," said Love. "I think I'm allowed to drop your title at this point, at least when it's just the two of us talking."

            Setsuna supposed, given what she'd heard about the behavior of Hisean delegates at previous summits, she was lucky not to have been immediately stuck with a pet name. "I take it you had an appointment for breakfast. May I be so bold as to ask with whom?"

            "Setsuna, you may always be bold with me! I wouldn't have it any other way! And I was meeting with Princess Miyuki. We've made plans to hold weekly dance lessons for all comers in the ballroom, every Earthday at noon. I hope you'll tell your brothers and all of your friends."

            "For all comers?" said Setsuna. "And here I thought I was special."

            "Oh, you are!" Love assured her quickly. "I thought you might be jealous, so, if it's all right with you, tomorrow I'd like to teach you a kind of dance we definitely won't be covering in group lessons. It's... something that's not quite approved of in some of the kingdoms. I mean, it's not dangerous, or even all that weird to people who aren't all hoity toity. No one thinks anything of it back in Hise. But if you're not comfortable with that, that's fine too! We won't be alone in the ballroom. There will be other people watching. They might talk."

            "You have me intrigued," said Setsuna. "It would be impossible for me to say no until I've at least found out what you're talking about." For once, she wasn't lying at all.

            "Oh, I'm glad! I'll see you tomorrow, Setsuna!" Once again, Love took Setsuna's hands in her own and squeezed them gently before taking her leave. It was an oddly intimate parting gesture, Setsuna thought — like a last, desperate clinging-on, or an attempt to absorb as much contact as possible before a reluctant separation. She wondered whether it was customary in Hise, or something unique to Love.

            For a brief flash of a moment, she found herself hoping it was the latter. Then the moment passed, and she could not think why such a hope could possibly have occurred to her.


	4. Windday

            Shortly after breakfast, there was a knock on Love's door. When Tarte opened it, he found Miki waiting outside, and Love was quick to invite her in.

            "It's time for us to keep our promise to each other," Miki announced as she seated herself in the chair the butler pulled up for her. "You simply must tell me about the plans you made with Princess Miyuki."

            "Oh, had you not heard yet?" Love asked. "We're teaching dance lessons in the ballroom every Earthday at noon. I had hoped the news would have spread far enough you'd have known that by now."

            "What a perfect idea! I'll see it spreads faster than it has been," said Miki. "As for myself, the invitation I spoke of was to Lord Shun of Jiyel. Kazuki had told me he was inviting Lady Setsuna to breakfast in the garden, and I thought if I arranged for the four of us to run into each other, it would give me a good chance to feel out that whole family. Hold on a moment. Tarte, if it's not too much trouble, could you fetch us some tea? I'm afraid I'm not quite woken up yet." Tarte looked to Love, who nodded at him, then bowed and left for the kitchen. "Now. Lord Shun and Lady Setsuna seem like perfectly nice people, but in politics, people are often not what they seem. If I recall correctly, you've invited Lady Setsuna to dance with you today. You do know, of course, that that is a most unusual sort of invitation for the first week, bordering on inappropriate?"

            "Yes, Tarte said as much," said Love. "But he wasn't concerned enough to forbid it, so I'm sure it will be all right."

            "I'm not so sure. People are certain to talk about it — and about you — and while that's not necessarily a bad thing, Lady Setsuna will have considerable influence over what they say."

            "And why is that a problem? Setsuna is my friend."

            "That might be, but I think you'd be surprised at how different her way of looking at the world is from your own. Lord Shun let slip a few things about their father when we were talking, and he sounds... exceedingly austere. And Lord Shun didn't even seem to notice there was anything out of the ordinary about what he was describing."

            "Then maybe Setsuna came here looking to escape from that?" Love suggested. She couldn't imagine that Setsuna — the same Setsuna who had been so intrigued by her offer to teach her a slightly scandalous dance — could possibly favor austerity. The idea of sweeping in and rescuing the lady from a home life she had always secretly hated made her heart flutter a little.

            "Maybe. But there's something weird going on with that whole family. I don't know if you've met Lord Hayato, but he's... very different from the delegates Jiyel usually likes to send."

            "If he scored well enough on their test, they would have to send him," said Love. "Isn't that how it works in Jiyel?"

            Miki sighed. "I suppose there's no way to put this delicately. I don't think it's possible he could have passed the test legitimately — and I'm not the only one with that suspicion."

            "You think he cheated somehow?"

            "Yes, and not on his own. He's not cunning enough for that. Someone must have helped him, someone with something to gain from Labyrinth being overrepresented at the summit. It could have been Lord Shun, or Lady Setsuna, or both of them. We need to be careful with those two."

            Love frowned. "Miki, I know you're just trying to look out for me, but I'm not going to assume the worst about people I like without a much better reason than that."

            "Oh, I'm not suggesting you assume anything," said Miki. "The point I'm trying to make is precisely the opposite of that."

            Before Love could ask her to elaborate, Tarte returned with two cups of hot chai, and Miki quickly shifted the discussion to the many types of fashion on display at the isle.

—

            "Setsuna! You're here!" Love said by way of greeting when Setsuna arrived at the ballroom.

            "I don't know why I shouldn't be," said Setsuna, and Love laughed gleefully, as though it were a joke.

            "First thing's first: you said you already know how to dance a little. Can you tell me more about that?"

            "I am familiar with the pavan," said Setsuna, "and can execute it with sufficient timing and precision for any occasion." An actual _grimace_ flashed across Love's face, before she managed to press it into a smile. Setsuna could not imagine what objection Love could possibly have to the pavan, of all dances. It was stately and proper enough for even the most traditional of courts.

            Then again, knowing Love, that might be the problem.

            "What about the galliard?" Love asked.

            "I'm afraid I don't know that one." Setsuna had seen it performed once, at a festival when she was young. To her simple child's mind, the dance of hops and stomps and flying leaps had looked far more enjoyable than the solemn, processional pavan. She had asked her father whether he might arrange for her to learn it, and he had replied that the galliard was "a riotous and undignified waste of energy".

            "Well, if you come to the group lesson tomorrow, I'll teach it to you then! But today, I wanted to show you the weller — or spinner, or whatever else it's called. It has a lot of names, like scandalous things often do. But before we get to the scandalous part, you need to learn the steps. If you'll look at the floor and just picture — oh, the tiles are square! That makes this much easier! All, right, pick out four of them, and imagine them as a little box. I'll take these ones over here, and you — yes, right next to me, like that! You start with both feet in one corner of the box, and then one foot at a time, you step forward, diagonal, and together, then backward, diagonal, and together. See, like me! Good! Now a bit faster, and to a beat of three. One-two-three! One-two-three! One-two-three! One-two-three..!"

            They went on like that for several minutes. When Love called a halt to it, Setsuna was hopeful that they were finally going to get to the interesting part, but, apparently, there was another variation on the steps she had to learn first.

            "All right, this time you move around the edge of the box, like this: near corner, far corner, together, near corner, far corner, together. And each time, you do a quarter turn, so that at the front and back of the box you're facing out, and on the sides you're facing in. Near, far, touch! Near, far, touch! One-two-three! One-two-three! One-two-three..!"

            It was entirely tedious. By this point, Setsuna would have welcomed some scandal.

            "Great!" said Love at long last. "Now we do it together!"

            "What do you mean? Weren't we already doing it together?"

            Love shook her head and took hold of one of Setsuna's hands, lifting it up above their shoulders so that their elbows were bent at a sharp angle. "Now put your other hand on my shoulder."

            Setsuna did, which brought them face to face with each other in a very intimate manner. She supposed she saw how such a position, if held for the duration of a dance, could raise a few eyebrows.

            Then Love wrapped her free arm around Setsuna's back and pulled her so close that their chests brushed against each other when they breathed in.

            For a moment, Setsuna's brain simply stopped working. When Love said, "All right, now starting with the first step I showed you!" and began to count, her feet simply moved of their own accord, not infrequently stepping on or tripping over Love's. What an absurd dance, she thought distantly. One would have to _try_ to step on one's partner's feet while dancing the pavan, and while a particularly clumsy dancer of the galliard might stomp on or crash into one of his fellows, there was at least enough space between the dancers to make that an unusual occurrence.

            "I can feel your breath on my neck," Setsuna stated neutrally, finding that she did not currently possess the presence of mind to pass judgment on the sensation. It was merely an observation.

            "Good. Try to breathe with me," said Love. "It will help us get in synch. And don't look at our feet — look over my shoulder."

            "Not at your face?" Setsuna asked.

            "No. Not at my feet, and not at my face. Don't look. Just feel."

            Well, they were close enough that _that_ presented no difficulties. Setsuna fell into breathing in time with Love. After a while, she began to pick up on the cues Love's body sent from touch alone, and her feet became less clumsy.

            "Now let's try turning," Love said, just as Setsuna thought she might be getting the hang of what they were already doing. "You remember that other step I showed you?"

            "Near, far, touch?"

            "That's right! Watch what happens when we both do that!"

            What happened, Setsuna found, was that they started to move in circles, round and round, both rotating and revolving, like the world around the sun. The math of it was interesting — to think that such a simple pattern could unfold into a more complicated-appearing one just by being performed in tandem with a partner. The other thing that happened, of course, was that Setsuna began to trip over Love's feet again, but this time, she did not mind so much. She knew now that she would get better with practice, and with Love's arm around her, nestled beneath Setsuna's own; Love's left hand cradling Setsuna's right; Love's cheek almost brushing Setsuna's; Love's breath caressing Setsuna's neck; Love's perfume, redolent of ripe peaches in the summer heat, wafting around Setsuna's face — with all of _that_ , Setsuna was happy enough to keep practicing for as long as her legs held out.

            When at last they managed several full revolutions in a row without any errors, triumphant laughter ripped itself free from Setsuna's throat, making her whole body quake and forcing her to stop. Love met her eyes, a luminescent grin on her face and tiny pearls of sweat clinging to her hairline like a diadem.

            "You're doing great, Setsuna! Just fantastic! You've come so far in one lesson! So what do you think — more or less fun than the pavan?"

            "Oh, definitely more!" said Setsuna, and meant it, but thinking of the pavan brought her sense of propriety crawling back to her. Slowly, she began to wonder what kind of spell she had just been under. "Where is that dance from? Hise? Corval?"

             "Wellin, actually," said Love. "Which I think is why it's called the weller! Though I'm sure you'll find plenty of Wellish noblemen who will try to deny it. It's not really approved of in the courts there. No offense intended, but nobles can be really stuffy sometimes — all sorts of people dance it in Hise! It's the highlight of royal balls and everything! But you should learn the galliard, too — it can be just as fun, and it's far more widely accepted. You will come tomorrow, won't you? If you're not busy?"

            "I will. I'm free for the rest of the week, up until your musicale. And yourself?"

            "Well, of course I'll also be at my own group lesson and musicale! And Prince Daisuke has invited me to play stoolball in the garden on Fireday. It seemed like an interesting way to pass an afternoon, so I accepted."

            Well, that was worrying. Unsurprising, but worrying. At least they would not be dancing. "Then I shall see you tomorrow, and again on Starday, and you will be in my thoughts the day between."

            "The same to you! And Setsuna?"

            "Yes?"

            "It was good to see you smiling and laughing so freely. You're adorable when you're acting all coy, but I'd rather know for sure that you're really happy. So don't be afraid to be yourself around me, all right?"

            "I will try to keep that in mind," said Setsuna, and felt the last of the giddiness drain from her, knowing that Love would not like her much at all if she ever really did show her true self.

            This time when Love took Setsuna's hand in parting, instead of just squeezing it, she kissed it, soft and fleetingly brief. Before Setsuna could think of how to react, Love had turned and left.

—

            "Have you heard of a dance called the weller?" Setsuna asked Shun when she happened to meet him in the halls later that day.

            "You mean the waltz, from Wellin? The one danced practically cheek-to-cheek?"

            "That's the one. Do you know if dancing it makes people crazy?"

            "According to some of the more sensationalist sources I've read, yes, it does."

            Setsuna nodded, her suspicions confirmed. She didn't have feelings for Love. That would be ridiculous. For one thing, Love was a girl, and Setsuna a Jiyelan noblewoman of wholesome and natural inclinations. "Just as I thought. If that Wellish princess ever asks you to dance it with her, don't."

            Then she went on her way before her brother could ask any uncomfortable questions.


	5. Earthday

            For the first time in days, Love slipped herself into a pair of trousers. It was something of a relief. She had always thought it was fun to dress up like a lady and make herself pretty on occasion, and had assumed she would enjoy that part of the summit. For the most part, she had, but she'd also quickly found that going through a full beauty regimen multiple times a day every day started to wear on her, to the point that she was beginning to wonder how Miki lived her whole life like this. She was glad that demonstrating the galliard gave her a perfect excuse to take a break.

            She arrived at the ballroom early, but already there were a handful of delegates milling around aimlessly as though waiting for something. When Love entered, all of their eyes turned to her. Their looks were curious and not all entirely friendly. It occurred to Love that some people might be showing up just to get a closer look at the girl who had talked back to the Matchmaker.

            Well, that was fine. As long as they weren't disruptive, Love would teach them regardless of their motives, and they'd all probably end up having more fun than they'd planned on.

            As noon approached, more and more delegates filed in, until there were about a dozen each of men and women. Miyuki marshaled them all into lines, while Love went around personally greeting everyone she knew.

            "Miki! What are you doing here? Can't you dance perfectly already?" she teased.

            "I think I have some room for improvement." Miki spoke just loudly enough that the whole group could hear, without raising her voice to such a volume as would be impolite. "If anyone can teach me something new, it's you, Love."

            "And Bukki! I'm glad you could make it."

            "I'm going to try as hard as I can," said Bukki. "But you'll have to forgive me if I leave before you've finished your lesson. I've never been any good at dancing in front of people, even in Skalt where the dances are much less formal."

            "Don't worry, no one will really be watching you," Love assured her. "They'll be watching Miyuki and me. Or possibly their own feet. Oh, Prince Daisuke! Couldn't you get lessons from your sister at any time?"

            "But not from you," he answered. "Um. I mean, Miyuki dances the woman's part, so there's only so much I can learn from her. But you dance the man's part, right?"

            "In Hise, there's no such thing as a woman's part or man's part," Love said with a small frown. "It's just the follow and the lead."

            "Oh. Sorry." He looked down at his feet and rubbed his shoulder absently. "But in Arland, I am expected to dance the lead, so..."

            "It's okay. I understand. Setsuna!" Out of the corner of her eye, Love saw Prince Daisuke's head bounce back up in surprise as she left him behind, but did not waste much thought on it. "I hope you have as much fun today as you did yesterday!"

            "I think that will be impossible, Love of Hise, as I will not be dancing one-on-one with you," said Setsuna.

            "I'll see what I can do about that," Love told her. "And this is your brother, right? Lord Hayato?"

            "Yes, he insisted on coming when he heard you'd be teaching the galliard. Hayato is... athletically inclined, I suppose is the best way to put it."

            "Pleased to meet you!" said Hayato. "I've been hearing a lot about you, Love of Hise, but I don't really understand the fuss. The Matchmaker can be a bit rough around the edges, but she seems like a perfectly nice old lady. I'm sure she understands when people are just trying to stick up for their friends."

            For one of the few times in her life, Love was rendered speechless. Apparently thinking this meant the conversation was over, Hayato turned away from her and began chatting with another delegate.

            "Did the Matchmaker actually _like_ him?" Love whispered to Setsuna.

            "Not quite," Setsuna whispered back. "I think it's more that she feels sorry for him."

            "Oh. That's..." Love struggled for words. "Somehow, in a weird backward way, that's actually kind of impressive?"

            "And with that, you have described the experience of knowing my brother in a nutshell."

            "Love, get up here!" Miyuki called. "It's time to start the lesson!"

            "Right!" Love called back, and went up to the front of the group to join her.

            "I hope you're all wearing proper dancing shoes," said Miyuki, "because we're going to be working on the galliard, which is danced on demi pointe. That can be demanding on your feet, so it's important to stretch them out first. Love of Hise will lead you through the exercises for doing that."

            Love spent a couple of minutes demonstrating stretches, then turned control of the lesson back over to Miyuki.

            "Thank you," said Miyuki. "Now, the basic step of the galliard — which I am sure many of you already know, but please bear with us — is the five-step: right kick, left kick, right kick, left kick, cadence, then left kick, right kick, left kick, right kick, cadence." Love demonstrated each movement slowly as Miyuki called it out. "Now, we call them 'kicks', but it's important not to put too much force into them. You'll be holding your partner's hand for much of the dance, and you don't want to jostle him or her around."

            "If you're having trouble getting your feet mixed up," Love added, "it might help to stop thinking of them as your 'left' and your 'right' and instead think of them as 'front' and 'back'. That way, it just goes back, front, back, front, cadence over and over again, because you switch the position of your right and left with the cadence." Then she held out her hand to Miyuki, who took it, and together they demonstrated the five-step in place, moving forward, moving backward, and turning in a circle.

            "It's easy to conceptualize," said Miyuki after both they and the applause they received had come to a stop, "but your body has a harder time learning it than your brain. The only way to get it down is to practice continually. That's why we're going to break you into two groups: I'll help those of you who just need to work on the basics, and Love will teach a few advanced moves to those of you who are ready for that. Now, why don't you all show us what you can do? Most galliards are played, not sung, but there is at least one familiar song you can use to keep time with nothing but your voice." Then she began to sing Arland's national anthem, and their students started dancing to it.

            Love and Miyuki moved through the lines, separating the dancers out into the novice and advanced classes. Love found she had difficulty judging the skill of the women whose feet were hidden under long skirts, but fortunately, Miyuki had a much keener eye for that than she did. Still, it set Love thinking that, as much as she enjoyed seeing pretty women in pretty dresses, this dance in particular would be a lot more fun if everyone wore trousers.

            Soon, the two classes had been formed. The novices consisted of Bukki, Setsuna, Hayato, and half a dozen others. Miyuki circled around them, singing to keep time and occasionally calling out corrections to form as they practiced the five-step over and over. The rest of the delegates who had shown up, including Miki and Daisuke, were in Love's own advanced class.

            Love spent the next hour running through how to spice up the galliard by incorporating different kinds of steps: back-kicks, side-kicks, cross-kicks, toe-taps, heel-taps, and so on. She found she was able to keep some of her students occupied just practicing how to combine regular kicks and back-kicks into the basic bell-step, but others were looking for more of a challenge.

            "I think," Prince Daisuke said, after showing off a complicated eleven-step that included a bit of everything Love had demonstrated to the class so far and ended on a cheeky little bow, "that the student has surpassed the master. Or at least matched her."

            "Hm... what about this?" Love asked, and executed a series of backward-crosses culminating in a high-kick and a cadence.

            "That doesn't look _too_ hard," said the prince. "It's just sort of... a combination back-kick and cross-kick? Or back-kick and heel-tap?"

            He tried it himself — and ended up getting his legs tangled and falling on his face.

            "Did I mention," Love asked, stifling a laugh as she reached down to help him to his feet, "that that set is called the knot-step?"

            "I can't imagine why," Daisuke muttered, running his hands over himself to check for bruises. But Love thought she caught him looking at her with renewed admiration as she helped him work through how to perform a backward-cross without hurting himself.

            Time wore on, and the dancers wore out. As Love began to contemplate calling an end to the lesson, she looked over to Miyuki's group and saw they were now five-stepping partnered and while turning in circles. Contrary to what she'd said at the beginning, Bukki seemed to be doing quite well even with Miyuki scrutinizing her form. So, Love was glad to see, did Setsuna. Suddenly, a wonderful idea occurred to her for a fun way to finish off the day. "All right, everyone, watch this!" she said to her group, and headed over to where Setsuna was dancing.

            "May I cut in?" she asked Setsuna's Skaltic partner. He grunted, apparently breathing too heavily to talk, and dropped Setsuna's hand, which Love took up as she stepped seamlessly into time beside her friend.

            "I can tell you've been working hard," Love said.

            "Thanks," panted Setsuna. "Sorry. Hard to talk."

            "Do you want to try a volta?" Love asked her. "I don't really expect you to get it right the first time, but it should be fun anyway."

            "Volta?"

            "Yeah! I guess you've never heard of it?" Setsuna shook her head. "Um. Well, is it all right if I touch your waist?"

            For a moment, a look of absolute _terror_ flashed across Setsuna's face. Love was about to apologize and leave when the curve of her mouth rebounded into an enigmatic smile. "Sure."

            "Really? Are you positive?" Setsuna nodded. "Well, okay! You can always tell me to stop, if it's too weird." She moved Setsuna's hand to her shoulder, then placed one of her own low on Setsuna's midriff and the other on the small of her back. "Now whenever you're ready, instead of a normal kick, just spring up as high as you can. You can signal me that you're about to do it by shifting some of your weight onto my shoulder." Setsuna nodded and, a moment later, sprang.

            At the height of Setsuna's jump, Love brought her knee up beneath her, so that, for a fraction of a second, the other girl was seated on top of her thigh. Then she used that contact to launch Setsuna even higher into the air, guiding her flight with the hands she still had wrapped around her waist. Setsuna gasped. Her skirt billowed out as she came back down and fell against Love's shoulder, apparently too shocked to use her legs.

            "And when you can land _that_ and keep dancing," Love announced to her students, "you'll know you've mastered following." The group erupted into cheers, and Love turned back to Setsuna. "You still all right?"

            The only response Setsuna managed was a laugh — the same I-can't-believe-that-just-happened sort of laugh from after they'd finished waltzing the day before. Love took that as a good sign.

            "That's the volta, right?" Miyuki asked. "I've heard about it, but I've never actually seen it before. My parents hate it. Can I try?"

            "Of course!" said Love, and went to dance it with her. Unlike Setsuna, Miyuki was able to stay in step after landing for two voltas in a row, before finally tripping up on her third attempt. "Miyuki, you're brilliant!" Love exclaimed.

            "I'll need a lot more practice to perfect that one," the princess demurred.

            Soon half the women in the class, as well as a couple of Skaltic men, were clamoring for Love to dance the volta with them. "I'm sorry everyone, but I'm exhausted!" Love said, to a chorus of disappointed groans. "But come again next week! I'll teach it to anyone who practices hard and can show me they're ready for a challenge."

            Taking that as a signal the lesson was over, the students began bidding farewell to each other and to their teachers and returning to their rooms to freshen up. Love caught Setsuna just before she left.

            "You did great today," she told her. "And it was really brave of you to dance with me like that in front of everyone. Practice a lot so that you can be on my side of the class next week, all right?"

            Setsuna hesitated, seemingly trying to muster a coy smirk and come up with something coquettish to say. In the end, all she managed was a crooked half-smile and a tired, "I will." Love gave her hands a quick goodbye squeeze, and they parted ways.

            Love's chest felt strange, as though Setsuna were pulling something inside of it after her as she left. Starday, only the day after the next, seemed entirely too far away.


	6. Fireday

            "How confused were the servants when you asked them for a ball, a barstool, and a small frying pan?" Love asked as she and Prince Daisuke walked through the garden, the prince carrying all three of the aforementioned items.

            "Not at all," said the prince. "They've seen this before. They even offered to get me a real bat and wicket, but I think it's more fun to play the improvised version when you're just introducing someone to the game." He set the stool up almost exactly where Setsuna, who was watching through the leaves of a hedge bordering the largest open space in the garden, had guessed that he would.

            Setsuna sat in the grass with her back to that hedge, her head turned over her shoulder to press her eye against a peephole she had made by strategically breaking off just a few small branches. She had brought along a book and propped it open in her lap, so that anyone passing by might think that she was simply reading out in the open air where she could smell the flowers and had turned her head momentarily out of innocent curiosity about the sounds coming from the grassy field. It was far from a comfortable position, but it would have to do. This courtship could be utterly ruinous to her. She had to know what she was up against.

            There was another reason, too, that Setsuna was anxious to learn whether Love had the slightest interest in Prince Daisuke, or even any sense at all that there was a potential for interest. The more she got to know Love, the more a strange suspicion began to take hold of her. It was almost unbelievable, but she was beginning to think that Love might genuinely prefer other women.

            Though it was no secret to anyone in the seven kingdoms what women got up to with women and men with men in Hise and Skalt, Setsuna's father and his friends had always spoken of such things as though the pirates and barbarians were simply libertines who paid no mind to gender at all. That was the basis of their antagonism toward the crown prince's support of same-sex marriage in Jiyel: they believed it would promote thoughtless hedonism over sober decision-making in nobles' choice of their spouses. When Setsuna had first met Love, her obvious partiality to women had made sense from a wholly political perspective: if she wanted to be queen of Hise someday, she would have to stay living there, and most of the men at the summit were looking to bring their brides home with them. But the more time she spent around the lady pirate, the more Setsuna began to suspect that there was more to it than that. The way Love spoke to other women in comparison to men, the way she looked at them, the way she held herself around them, the subtly more cautious way she touched them when correcting their dance postures — all of it pointed to a true and deep affinity for her own sex. Setsuna had had no idea that such a thing was possible.

            As Setsuna was musing on that, Prince Daisuke measured out ten paces from the stool. "You stand here," he told Love, and handed her the ball when she went to do so, himself holding onto the frying pan and returning to stand in front of and a little to the side of the stool. "The batter stands like this: left foot forward — assuming you're right-handed, of course — feet lined up with your shoulders, bat wound up behind your head. The bowler — that's you — tries to throw the ball so that it hits the square. Since we don't have a real wicket, the 'square' is the area the width of the stool between the seat and the top of the batter's head. Every time you miss or I block you with the bat, I get a point. When you do hit it, we switch places. Simple enough?"

            "Simpler than I thought," said Love. "The way you were going on about this game, I was expecting something more complicated."

            "It is when you play with full teams," said the prince. "But for a friendly courtship game, that's all there is to it."

            "Who said anything about courtship?" Love asked. In a slightly different tone of voice, it could have been a challenge, or just a demur for propriety's sake. But it wasn't.

            "Well, I hope that it's at least friendly," the prince answered

            "I don't see why it shouldn't be!" Love bowled the ball, which flew a good yard past the side of the square. "Unless I end up embarrassing myself so badly that I can never face you again."

            The prince laughed and brought the ball back to her. "Come on. If I can get back up and keep trying after the knot-step, you can do this." He helped her work on her throw, first by demonstrating himself, then by putting his hands on her arm and physically guiding her through the motion. Setsuna watched Love closely for any sign of a reaction to his touch, any tensing or relaxing that could indicate even a modicum of attraction. She could see none whatsoever.

            Setsuna observed the entirety of the game. Love picked up a bit of it, both bowling and batting, but was still so hopelessly outmatched even by the end that the two of them didn't bother to keep score. Still, her shout of joy the first time one of her swings connected with the ball rose even above the clang of the frying pan. Setsuna wondered if her own face had been so radiant when she'd realized she was successfully dancing the weller.

            Before Love and Daisuke parted ways, she clapped him on the shoulder. It was, in its own way, an intimate gesture, but so strikingly different from what Setsuna was used to from Love that there could be no more doubt in her mind. If Love could feel for any man, surely she would for Daisuke. He was handsome enough in face and figure. A sort of easy, masculine grace underlied his movements both in the ballroom and on the playing field. They got along well enough, and he seemed to be doing his best to put on the charm. And still, there was nothing. Nothing at all.

            It should have been a relief. For two delegates to be considered for an early engagement as a so-called match of the heart, their romance had to be mutual. Whereas if the prince was to be married off as part of a political match, the most obvious choice for him would be the highest ranking Jiyelan woman in attendance — and that was Setsuna. As long as she could allay the Matchmaker's suspicions and maintain a relationship with Prince Daisuke that was more positive than not, her path to the throne of Arland was clear. Maybe she would be glad about that later, but for now, there was something far too heavy weighing on her mind for her to enjoy any such levity: for the first time in her life, she felt certain her father was wrong about something.


	7. Starday

            "And we really have to sit still and just listen?" Hayato asked. "No dancing at all?"

            "Yes, and I don't know why you're surprised by that," Setsuna told him. "You've been to a musicale before."

            "But not one put on by a pirate! Especially not a dancing pirate."

            "Even Love of Hise has to make _some_ concessions to propriety," said Setsuna, but suddenly found that she wasn't so sure about that. That was worrying. If Love tried to dance with her at such a small, intimate gathering, Setsuna would probably die of shame.

            Hayato, on the other hand, looked deeply disappointed by the unlikelihood of such an event. "If that's the case, I might as well have just gone with Shun to the natural philosophy lecture."

            "You weren't _invited_ to the lecture."

            "Oh. So this isn't like the dance lessons, where you can just show up?"

            "No!" Even Love and Inori of Skalt appeared to have had the social wisdom to coordinate their invitations together, as there was no overlap in the ones Setsuna's family had received. If such concepts were simple enough to be grasped by a pirate and a barbarian, why in the world did Setsuna's own brother seem to have such difficulty with them?

            They arrived in the music room to the chaotic but not altogether unpleasant sound of the musicians tuning their instruments. There was a violinist, a violist, and a third member of the ensemble who did not yet have her instrument out. Setsuna supposed she was most likely a cellist, as that would complete a traditional string trio. All three were dressed in the flowing parti-color gowns favored by Hisean women for formal events.

            The Arlish royal siblings were present as well. While Love was occupied speaking with some other guests, Setsuna decided to attempt to get a word in with the prince.

            "Prince Daisuke. Princess Miyuki." Setsuna started to curtsy, but the princess interrupted her.

            "Oh, come on now. We're past _that_ point, Lady Setsuna."

            "I'm glad to hear it. And yet, I have barely spent any time at all with either of you this past week. We'll have to correct that in the near future, won't we?" She shot the prince a winsome smile.

            Unfortunately, before Prince Daisuke could answer, Love was upon them. "Setsuna! You should come sit up front next to me! I want to see your face when you hear it!"

            "Hear what?" Setsuna asked.

            "The music, of course! Come on!" Love grabbed Setsuna's hand and led her to the first of three rows of seats, where she sat in the middle and motioned for Setsuna to take the seat on the right. Bemused and slightly worried by Love's non-answer to her question, Setsuna did.

            The other guests all sat themselves as well, and the two strings-players finished tuning. The third musician still did not have an instrument. So, she was a vocalist. That was a somewhat unconventional choice for chamber music — but then again, if it was the _most_ unconventional choice Love had made in arranging this event, Setsuna knew they'd all be getting off lightly.

            Then the music began, and the vocalist belted out, in a contralto as deep and rich as the sea:

 

            _Those Corvalis, they can haggle, took up time and made us straggle_

_But we're finally leaving port_

            _We got carpets, we got spice, but to me what's much more nice_

_I got a girl from the inner court_

_Oh, she's never hoist a sail or held an oar or seen a whale_

_Or on a ship had to comport_

_But she can dance and she can sing and so for me she's just the thing_

_I love my girl from the inner court_

            This was definitely not chamber music. Instrumentation aside, it was very clearly a seaman's work song. Setsuna's jaw dropped. She turned to look at Love, who grinned giddily back her.

            The arrangement was professional-sounding. The musicians were technically excellent. The subject matter was a pirate on a trading mission to Corval stealing away a noblewoman. What in the world was going on here?

            _The Corvalis aren't too pleased and now they're trying to have us seized_

_They're an awfully stuffy sort_

            _They can chase us without cease but we will soon be safe in Hise_

_Me and my girl from the inner court_

After that came a song about a pirate crew's encounter with the kraken, then one about a kidnapped young man escaping from the hold of a ship and setting it on fire as he rowed safely away in a lifeboat. Setsuna had read in books about this kind of music existing, but she had never actually heard it before. She found it had a strange physiological effect on her: even though she was sitting perfectly still, her heart raced like she had just been dancing the galliard. Looking around her, she saw heads swaying and toes tapping to the music, as though just listening to it could infuse a person's body with energy that needed an outlet. Love herself, though not fidgeting, seemed somehow lit up from the inside. She kept looking over at Setsuna expectantly with that oversized smile of hers, and Setsuna could not help smiling back. When the intermission came, she was almost sorry for it.

            "Aren't they great?" Love turned around in her seat to address the audience. "There are so, so many of these amazing songs that sailors sing to keep a rhythm going when they're hauling in an anchor, or bailing out water from below deck, or rowing a tender, or anything else that requires a bunch of people to work together. Like the work itself is a kind of a dance! But they're not written down anywhere, and almost no one who isn't a sailor ever hears them. So these three go around collecting them and turning them into actual compositions, and then share them with the whole world. They really want to challenge people's perceptions about other countries and classes, but I think it's nice just that everyone gets to hear the music."

            "Do you sing songs like this when you're sailing?" Hayato asked, eyes shining with awe.

            "Of course! Though I don't sound anywhere near as amazing as she does."

            "You really sing when you're bailing out a ship?" asked someone else.

            "Yeah! Though it's not as dramatic as you're probably imagining. Bailing doesn't mean that a ship's sinking. Some water always gets in, and on longer voyages, it builds up."

            With Love engaging the audience's curiosity about life as a pirate, the intermission flew by. The second set also went far too quickly. After it, Love stood up and thanked the trio for their performance. "I'm sure we're all energized to give our introduction speeches now!" she concluded.

            Somehow, while listening to the music, Setsuna had completely forgotten that introductions were that afternoon. Fortunately, she had not forgotten her speech itself, though it certainly would not hurt to review it when she got back to her room.

            Far more interesting than her own speech, though, was the prospect of hearing what Love would say with a captive audience consisting of every delegate on the isle. Love was quickly proving to have a knack for making utterly baffling decisions, and then somehow making them turn out well for her. Watching her work that odd magic always proved...

            Setsuna's mind flitted over the word "fun" and landed on "interesting" instead. She had not, after all, come to Vail Isle for anything so vacuous as _fun_.

—

            "Thirty-nine," said Love, drawing her lot for speech order. "Aw, I'm almost at the end. Everyone will be sick of listening to other people talk by the time it's my turn."

            "I got number one," said Miki. "I suppose we won't be sitting anywhere near each other. That's a shame."

            " _That's_ you're only concern about going first?" asked Bukki.

            "Of course! My speech is perfect. And I'm sure both of yours will be, too. I know you've been working hard on them."

            They all wished each other luck and went to their assigned seats. Love's, she was delighted to find, was just next to Setsuna's. "Setsuna! You're going right after me?"

            "Don't sound so happy about that," said Setsuna, though she was smiling herself. "It's not exactly a good thing for me."

            "What? Why not?"

            Setsuna regarded her quizzically. "You really don't know? You're easily the most talked about delegate on the isle. Whatever you say up there is going to have _quite_ an impact — one way or another."

            "But no pressure, right?"

            "No pressure."

            Love tried to resist asking, but just a few seconds later found herself blurting out, "Have people _really_ been talking about me?"

            "Between the last time I saw you and now, I've had _three_ other delegates come up to me just to ask what your musicale was like."

            "What did you tell them?"

            "The truth, of course: that it was an experience unlike any other."

            "Um. That could either mean really good, or really bad, couldn't it?"

            "Love, your event was wonderful. But when you talk to people you don't know, it's important to maintain some level of mystery, or at least plausible deniability, about your true thoughts and opinions on things."

            "But... isn't that kind of the opposite of what we're doing right now? When we go up for introductions, we're going to tell everyone here all about our thoughts and opinions, right?"

            The look Setsuna gave her was downright pitying. Before Love could think of how to respond to it, the head butler announced the start of the event, and Miki walked up to the podium.

            "I am Princess Miki of Wellin," she announced, "and I have come to the summit to create hope for the future — and to look after my little brother."

            She said it in such a way that the crowd could not help but laugh, but Love doubted any of them believed it was actually a joke.

            "I would like to say a few words on what I mean by 'hope'. I'm not speaking of the idle hope that things will go well for you without you having to work for them. For example, I hope that Chef Kaoru will serve fruit soufflé for dessert tonight, but, as wonderfully as I'm sure he can bake it, that's not what I came to the summit for." The crowd laughed again. "The stronger forms of hope, on the other hand, are the foundation for nearly every character trait worth having. The hope that we can achieve our goals makes us courageous and hard-working. The hope that other people can change and grow makes us compassionate and patient." Love could not be entirely sure, but she thought she saw Miki glance at Lord Shun as she spoke that last sentence. "Cynicism, as fashionable as it has become, does nothing but kill these fine qualities in us.

            "I am the living embodiment of my mother's hope. Twenty-one years ago, she came to Vail Isle hoping to make friends and allies, and to ensure peace between the kingdoms. The friendships she succeeded in forming with the people who would go on to become the parents of Love of Hise and Inori of Skalt were so strong that they crossed generational lines. Her love for her friends continues in my love for mine, and her wish for peace in my wish for those friends to prosper regardless of the kingdoms they were born to or end up living in.

            "As a final note, I know that my odd little verbal quirk has drawn some attention here at the summit. With this explanation of the value I place on hope, you should be able to understand that when I say 'I'm perfect!' what I actually mean is 'I believe in myself, and that makes me strong.' But, of course, that's not as pithy." The audience laughed one last time, and Miki thanked them and returned to her seat.

            Lord Shun went immediately after her, and appeared strangely flustered. His speech was largely a series of historical facts relevant to the current global situation, and though he must have considered them interesting to choose to incorporate them, he did not succeed in conveying much enthusiasm for his own lesson. He kept looking at Miki. Love wondered, with a fluttering of her heart, whether she might be listening to the introductory speech of her friend's future husband.

            Bukki's turn at the podium came shortly after Lord Shun's. "I am Inori of Skalt. I'm not good at many things, but I am extremely knowledgeable about animals, so if any of you have any questions about horsemanship, please feel free to approach me. I want to do whatever little things I can to support my fellow delegates, because Princess Miki and Love of Hise have done so much to support me. Thank you. I believe in you all!" Though her speech was short and self-effacing, she delivered it with poise.

            Miyuki practically floated to the podium, her practiced grace evident even in an act as simple as climbing a short set of stairs. "I am Princess Miyuki of Arland, and I am here to find a marriage that will be beneficial to my country — and, I hope, to a partner who can at least keep up with me on the dance floor. If any of you are interested in learning how to do that, or want to show off what you already know, come to the dance lessons Love of Hise and I hold in the ballroom every Earthday, starting at noon. Thank you."

            Prince Kazuki announced that his goal was to in some way contribute to the peace and prosperity of the world as a whole, while Prince Daisuke asserted — rather unconvincingly, Love thought, as he kept throwing uncertain glances at her the whole time — that he aimed only to serve Arland as best as he could.

            Lord Hayato's speech, much to the growing horror of everyone in the audience, was nothing but a long, _long_ list of personal "thank you"s to what seemed to be every single person on the isle he had spent so much as two minutes conversing with. Love looked over to Setsuna and saw her cradling her face in her hands.

            "And I'd like to thank Love of Hise, for inviting me to her musicale this morning!" Hayato went on, obliviously. "Normally I'm not so good with the kind of events where you have to sit still and be quiet for long periods of time, but hers was really fun! And finally, I'd like to thank Chef Kaoru for making the best desserts in the known world and for being a generally fun and funny person. You're like another brother to me, Chef Kaoru!"

            "You dolt, he's a _servant_ ," Love heard Setsuna hissing into her hands. "He's not even in the audience!"

            A few more delegates after that, it was Love's turn. She approached the podium with confidence, knowing exactly what she wanted to say.

            "I'm Love of Hise, and I'm here to make sure that all of my friends get their happiness.

            "I'm not naive. I know that there can't be happiness without peace, and that's why we all have to do our duty to preserve diplomacy and avoid war. But I also think that there can't be peace without happiness. Unhappy people do desperate, ugly, often violent things. So I hope none of you think that it's your duty to make yourselves unhappy, because that's the opposite of true.

            "My own existence is proof that the Seven Year Summit works. My mother is from Jiyel, and she and my Hisean father are as happy together now as they were when they first met and fell in love on this isle twenty-one years ago. Princess Miki of Wellin and Inori of Skalt also have mothers from Jiyel, and they and our fathers all became close friends at the summit — so much so that even though we live oceans apart, Miki and Inori are like family to me. None of our countries could ever go to war when the people in power would have such precious friends on the other side.

            "So, in a way, I think peace and happiness are actually the same thing: they both come from opening your heart to other people.

            "And that's all I have to say! Go get your happiness, everyone!"

            Love turned away from the podium, only to hear Setsuna call out to her. "Love, you can't sit down just yet! After a speech like that, I'm sure everyone is just dying to know: how exactly do you plan to get _your_ happiness?"

            Love did not hesitate. "Oh! Well, I haven't decided that yet, but... It does make me very happy to be with you, Lady Setsuna!" For a moment, Setsuna looked more surprised than happy, and Love was afraid that she had made her uncomfortable. But then she smiled, and though it was one of her more composed smiles — closer to what Love had seen at the welcome feast than in the ballroom — Love figured she could not have upset her too much.

            Which was an especially good thing because she was next up to give a speech.

            "I am Lady Setsuna of Jiyel, and I am here to serve my country.

            "It's interesting that Love of Hise mentioned evidence that the summit works, because I had intended to do the same. Only, in my opinion, the best possible evidence is its own continued existence. This, after all, is its one-hundred-and-fortieth year. We are the twentieth set of delegates to stand in this room and declare our names and intentions before our peers.

            "Things have not always gone smoothly. We've all heard the story of how, forty-two years ago, murder and conspiracy shook Vail Isle Castle just as the known world itself was on the verge of plunging into destruction and despair. A weaker tradition than the summit, one that had not been refined and reinforced by so many, many years, would have shattered, and the whole order of the world would have come undone. Looking out on the faces of my peers and seeing all of us so full of life and potential, I could not feel more fortunate that that did not happen. And I could not feel more fortunate to be a part, however small, of such a grand and important tradition. Thank you all for being a part of it with me."

            "That was great," Love whispered to Setsuna when she retook her seat.

            "Thank you," Setsuna whispered back, but there was a pensive look on her face.

            "Is something wrong?"

            "No, not really. It's just that... well. I'd written a longer speech than that, but there was a part about duty and self-sacrifice that I don't think would have gone over so well after what you said up there.

            "Oh. I'm sorry. Maybe we should have worked on our speeches together. I worked on mine with Miki and Bukki. Did you notice we all mentioned each other?"

            "Yes, I noticed. And it's fine. This late in the afternoon, I'm sure no one really wanted to hear a long speech anyhow."

            "I did," said Love. "I mean, if it was from you. I really want to know more about you, Setsuna."

            "Oh, don't worry about that. Tomorrow is the start of our second week, and we'll have plenty more chances to spend time together then. I'm sure it will be positively _revelatory_."

            In the not-too-distant future, Love would look back on that remark and wonder about the intent behind it. It would be a long time before she could know just how little either one of them expected the extent to which it would prove true.


	8. Sunday

When Setsuna's butler told her she had received an invitation from her brother, she naturally assumed that he meant Hayato. Shun would know better than to waste her time like that. She took hold of the letter and began to read with irritation.

            _Dearest sister,_

_Our country's own Countess Northa will be leading the horseback tour on Windday. Because this is her first summit as a chaperone, she has expressed to me a desire to practice what she will say, and invited me to accompany her on a nature walk around the isle this afternoon. It occurred to me that you and Hayato might also be interested. If you are, please meet us in front of the castle at two._

_Yours,_

_Shun_

            Annoyance faded into quiet dread. Though Shun had done his best to disguise it, this was not an invitation; it was a summons. What did Northa — an ally, true, but not a particularly pleasant or comfortable person to be around even in that capacity — have to say to the three of them that she could not say within earshot of anyone else in the castle?

            Two-o-clock rolled around before she knew it, and Setsuna went to find out.

            "A pleasure to see you as always, my lords, my lady," Northa purred to Setsuna and her brothers when they met. "It positively warms my heart that you all would choose to humor an aging widow like me over spending time in the company of your peers."

            "Anything for a friend of our father's," Shun replied evenly.

            "Such good, dutiful children. Having the three of you in my life has done more than anything else to soothe my sorrow that the poor old count passed before we could have any of our own. Now, come along. I have much to show you."

            Northa began their walk by pointing out the various native plants they passed by, giving their names and a few facts of interest about each. Once they were some distance from the castle, she switched to inquiring of Hayato about the friends he'd made on the isle. Most of what he had to say was, of course, nonsense, but he had spoken to such a wide variety of people at such length about so many topics that he had inevitably turned up a few facts of interest, and perhaps even of use. Once she was satisfied she had gotten everything she could out of the younger brother, or perhaps just once she decided she could not take another second of his drivel, Northa turned her attention to the elder.

            "I know that I instructed you to spend time with the princess of Wellin," she said, "so perhaps the current situation is in some small part my own fault. But you seem to be quite excessively taken with her."

            "I don't see what about my interest is excessive," Shun replied. "She is a perfectly eligible marriage prospect."

            "Not for you. Have you forgotten that we intend for you to someday be Emperor of Jiyel? That girl is too smart, too strong-headed, and too liberal to let anywhere near the throne."

            "Yes, she is extremely intelligent," Shun said, as though that were where Northa's list of the princess's qualities had ended. "Which is why I feel certain I can convince her of the rightness of our cause, given time and an opportunity to speak more openly than we have so far been able to."

            "You are deluding yourself," Northa told him. "Break things off with her immediately."

            "I'm sorry, was that an _order_? I am here to serve my father. Not you."

            Northa's eyes narrowed, and her voice rumbled like the first stirrings of a landslide. "On this isle, I speak for your father."

            "The last time I checked," said Shun, " _I_ was his heir. If someone is to speak for him in his absence, the protocol for who that should be is clear."

            There was a moment of shocked silence all around. Setsuna looked to Hayato, and saw him chewing his nails in distress.

            Finally, Northa sighed. When she spoke again, it was in a tone of resigned sorrow. "It never fails to dismay me, the effect that the freedom afforded by the summit to young people can have on them. I had foolishly hoped that you were sensible enough to be immune to it. I am truly sorry to have lost your friendship, Lord Shun."

            Shun stared at her, a look of horror slowly creeping into his eyes. _Apologize, you idiot!_ Setsuna screamed at him internally, but instead he simply bowed goodbye and turned to go back to the castle. Northa frowned as he left, and Setsuna knew from her look that it might not be the next day, or the day after, but someday soon her brother would regret what he had just said, and dearly.

            "He... shouldn't have done that, should he have?" Hayato whispered to Setsuna.

            Setsuna shook her head. "Today will go down in history as the day that _you_ showed more sense than Shun."

            "Hayato, go follow your brother and make sure he doesn't do anything too stupid even for you," Northa instructed.

            "Maybe I should—" Setsuna began.

            "No. You, I still have things to discuss with. Have a good evening, Hayato." Hayato bowed and left them.

            "It has come to my attention," Northa said as the two of them walked on down the bridle path, "that this past week you spent far more time with Love of Hise than with either of the princes. Why is that?"

            "I'm surprised you have to ask about Prince Kazuki," said Setsuna. "Everything you said about his sister also holds true of him."

            "Yes, but your situation is different from your brother's. If you were to marry Prince Kazuki and dispose of him as soon as you secured an heir, you could control the throne of Wellin. There are plenty of poisons that replicate the symptoms of an epileptic seizure."

            "You make securing an heir sound so quickly and easily done," Setsuna replied, glad to have a logical argument against Northa's horribly distasteful proposal. It was always a happy coincidence when the right thing to do happened to coincide with the irrational and arbitrary leanings of her heart. "If we were especially unlucky, I might not even manage it before a real seizure tore him away from me. And then where would we be?"

            "I agree that it's not the best of the options you have available," Northa said, "but it is still a door worth keeping open. And speaking of your best option, things do not appear to be going well with Prince Daisuke, do they?"

            "They're not going poorly, either," said Setsuna. "This morning I sent him an invitation to go stargazing with me, and he agreed to meet with me Fireday night."

            "And yet, _he_ has still not sent an invitation to _you_."

            "That's not my fault," said Setsuna. "It's Love of Hise's. He is idiotically infatuated with her."

            "Indeed," said Northa. "Allow me to show you what we are going to do about that."

            The path had, by this point, left behind the fields of grass and wildflowers that surrounded the castle, and now rambled over hard, stony ground. The sounds of a bubbling creek rose up from the depths of a ravine just a dozen or so yards off the side of the trail.

            "There is an eagle's nest on the far cliff of the canyon," said Northa, pointing. "Do you see?"

            Setsuna squinted. "I think I can make out a cluster of wooden branches, yes."

            "It's more impressive with binoculars. You can see the eaglets and, if you get lucky, you might even spot one of their parents. On the group ride, you will ask Love of Hise to accompany you in riding out to get a better look. This is the path that will be safe to walk." Northa strode from the trail to the lip of the ravine, arms held out from her sides to indicate the width of the path she was describing. Setsuna followed her, a feeling of sickness rising up in her stomach. "Love of Hise may ride on either side of you."

            Setsuna looked down into the ravine. The stream at its heart was thin and shallow, with tall, jagged rocks lining its shores. "And then?"

            "There is no 'and then,'" said Northa. "I have just told you everything that concerns you.

            Setsuna's head span. She closed her eyes and backed away from the cliff, but it did not relieve her dizziness. "I think you have misunderstood something," she said carefully. "Prince Daisuke is infatuated with Love of Hise, but his feelings are not mutual. Without mutuality, the Matchmaker will not approve them as a match of the heart. I don't think I need to list all of the reasons why she will never approve them as a political match. I, on the other hand, am an excellent match for him politically. If anything, his obsession with her benefits us: it will keep him from forming any attachments that might prove more fruitful."

            "And how do you know she does not return his feelings?" Northa asked.

            "I have observed them when they're together, both with and without their knowledge. It's blaringly obvious, really. Love of Hise is not a subtle woman."

            Northa shook her head sadly. "You of all people should know how impossible it is to ever truly be certain of another person's intentions just by observing them. Has it never crossed your mind even for a second that Love of Hise, like anyone else in the world, might not be exactly what she appears?"

            "A lack of complete certainty is not a good enough reason to take drastic measures!" Setsuna objected. "You yourself said that it's important to keep options open, and Love is also one of my options for marriage. Besides, we shouldn't do anything that could cast suspicion on us unless it's absolutely necessary. I told you what the Matchmaker said during my interview."

            "Perhaps I have not been entirely clear," said Northa. "I am giving you instructions, not asking for your opinion." Her eyes narrowed. "Or do you intend to reprise your brother's little tantrum from earlier?"

            This wasn't right. Absolutely nothing about it made sense. Setsuna _knew_ her own assessment was logically correct. Northa wasn't stupid. She would never make such an obvious mistake. Setsuna's father would never make such an obvious mistake as to appoint someone to speak for him who would make such an obvious mistake. This couldn't be happening. It couldn't, it couldn't, it couldn't, it couldn't—

            Unless it was a test.

            Setsuna took a deep breath and felt her mind steady. Of course: it was a test. That was the only logical possibility. After how much time she'd been wasting on Love this past week, it was perfectly reasonable for Northa to wonder whether she had gone as foolish for her as Shun had for Princess Miki. So, she was testing her. That was all that was going on here.

            _But what if it isn't_?

            It had to be.

            _But what if it_ isn't _?_

Then she would do her duty to her father anyway! He knew better than her. He _always_ knew better than her.

            "I assure you, I have no such intentions," she told Northa.

            Northa smiled, the corners of her mouth curling like vines sinking in their hooks. "Good."


	9. Moonday

            "I'm sorry," said Bukki, "the last time you rode a horse was _when_?"

            "Five years ago," Love repeated. "When our families went to visit Miki's in Wellin. Remember?"

            "Have you just... been on a boat ever since then?"

            "Or in my home city. Or in other coastal cities you can reach just by sailing around the edge of Hise. Boats are much easier to travel on than horses. They don't have minds of their own." As if to illustrate her point, the palomino she was riding swung his head to the side to try to gobble a sprig of flowers from a trellis they were passing. "Desert Gold, no! Drop it!"

            Miki giggled. "Love, he's not a dog."

            Bukki, by contrast, did not look at all amused. "Love, don't yank on the reins like that! When you pull, pull _straight_ back, not up. And be gentle about it! These are very well-trained and responsive horses. And saying they have minds of their own like it's a bad thing is like... like saying it's easier to dance on your own than with a partner! It's only a problem if you feel like you have to be completely in control of everything always, instead of having to trust and communicate and occasionally ask nicely for what you want. I think being that controlling gets lonely after a while, don't you?"

            "So you're saying," said Miki, "that Love needs to open her heart up to her horse to get her happiness, right?"

            "Yes!" said Bukki, either not noticing that Miki was teasing them both, or else not caring. "And keep her knees in. And her heels down. And her toes pointing forward. And her back straight. And her shoulders relaxed."

            "I don't know how my _anything_ can be 'relaxed' when I'm struggling to follow all those directions at once," Love grumbled after forcing her heels down in the stirrups and having her knees pop right back out as she did so.

            "Well, it must be possible," said Miki. "Look at Bukki. I've never seen her more relaxed or secure in herself than she is when she's on a horse. Maybe she should ride one around inside the castle. The butlers would have such interesting reactions to that, don't you think?"

            "You're awfully cheeky today," said Love. "You do realize if she knew anything about sidesaddle, she'd be picking you apart too, right?"

            "I doubt that. My riding technique is perfect."

            "Sidesaddle is an imperfect technique by definition," Bukki shot back. "You aren't lined up with your horse, so you can never really be in synch. And I don't know how you're supposed to hold on if you get in trouble. I guess you could grab the mane, but without anything else, that might just end up getting you dragged. The key to keeping your seat is squeezing with your thighs. Love, you've got nice strong legs from dancing, so you have at least one advantage — and another, in that you're not afraid to wear trousers."

            "Thanks," said Love.

            "But none of that will matter if you don't _keep your knees in and heels down_!"

            Love hurriedly corrected her posture, while Miki laughed again. "Who is this demon woman, and what has she done with Inori of Skalt?"

            "I don't know," said Love, "I think I like this Bukki."

            "Well, you _did_ say you wanted to practice before the group ride. There's no point in practicing doing something the wrong way," Bukki pointed out. "All right, we're going to be climbing now, so what you'll want to do is lean forward in your seat to shift your horse's center of weight uphill. And when we go down, you'll lean back in your seat to do the same thing. Got it?"

            "Got it!"

            Soon, they came to the crest of a hill from which they could look out on most of the isle. The wind was fast and sharp-edged and carried the scent of sea salt, making Love feel a little as though she were standing at the prow of a ship.

            "Oh! There's the lake where the boat race will be!" Love cried out, pointing to it. "I'm so excited that that's this week!"

            "I'm sure you'll make a fine captain," said Miki. "Invitations go out tomorrow, don't they? Have you thought about who you're going to ask?"

            "Why, the two of you and Setsuna and Miyuki, of course!"

            "Love, you do realize that this is a serious opportunity for you to show off your leadership abilities, right?" Miki asked. "You're going to want a team that can _win_. I've never touched an oar in my life, and I doubt Princess Miyuki or Lady Setsuna have either."

            "I have," said Bukki. "But not all that much more often than you've ridden a horse. You'd probably be better off choosing someone else."

            "Oh, come on! What happened to confident horseback Bukki?" Love pouted. "There's no point in winning if I can't have fun with my friends."

            "Well, I suppose it is true that most of the other teams won't be very experienced either," Miki said slowly. "I'm willing to give it a try on the condition that you lead a practice session so that we don't make _complete_ fools of ourselves. I'll be free tomorrow afternoon."

            "I can do that!" Love turned her pout on Bukki. "And you'll be there too, right? Please?"

            "If I don't agree to this, you'll probably pick someone with even less experience, won't you?" Love nodded emphatically. "All right. Confident horseback Bukki says yes."

            "Hurray!" cried Love. She swung her legs in excitement, accidentally bouncing her ankles against her horse's sides. Desert Gold responded by breaking into a trot, which, Love found, was not only considerably faster than a walk, but also launched her into the air with each step. Before she could get ahold of him, her feet slipped out of the stirrups, and a particularly hard jolt sent her tumbling off to the side. Desert Gold whinnied in protest as she nearly dragged him down on top of her thanks to her death-grip on the reins.

            "Love!" Miki and Bukki both came trotting up beside her, and Love noted with some irritation that _they_ had no trouble staying on at that gait.

            "Are you all right?" Miki asked.

            "I think so," said Love, rising to her feet. "At least, nothing's broken."

            " _Be more aware of your horse!_ " Bukki did not shout, or really even raise her voice, but there was a quality to her tone that made Love flinch away from her. "He is a living being, and he is paying attention to everything that you do, so you should give him the same courtesy!"

            "Sorry," said Love. "I mean..." She turned to Desert Gold, and scratched behind his ears. "Sorry."

            "I'm going to have to teach you how to post a trot," said Bukki. "And how to keep your seat in an emergency. And how to fall so that you don't hurt yourself. And—"

            By the time she was done with her litany, it was clear to Love that they would be out riding all day long.


	10. Waterday

            Setsuna had not expected to have to face Love before the group ride. She was not surprised that Love had, against all logic, chosen her for her boat race team, but this practice session was something else. It was not usually done to send someone a personal invitation in the middle of the week — though, Setsuna supposed, setting aside time to train her novice teammates before the race was actually one of the more sensible decisions Love had ever made. It would have been nice to have a schedule conflict she could point to, but aside from Northa's summons, Setsuna had for some reason received no other invitations that week. So, here she was, seated beside Princess Miyuki on the bench of a boat with an oar in her hands and a puddle of water on the floor dampening the hem of her dress, while Love stood at the prow working the sail.

            "These are such weird little boats," Love said as — slowly, and with much zigzagging — they pulled away from the dock. "Why does something this size need a sail _and_ a team of rowers?"

            "It's a sporting boat designed to be raced by nobles," said Princess Miki, who was seated just behind Setsuna. "Only one small sail means you only need one person with expertise. Any fewer than that, and we'd all be undone by our limited arm strength."

            "If only there were a way to row with your legs," Princess Miyuki lamented. "I could probably manage _that_."

            "You can manage this too!" Inori told her. "I believe in you!"

            Setsuna was not so sure about that. She could feel the strain on her arms already, and they had only just started. "We're drifting left," she reported instead of complaining.

            Love sized up the situation in a fraction of a second. "Bukki, you're going too fast. The others can't keep up."

            "Sorry!" said Inori, and did her best to slow down to a pace the rest of them could match.

            "I've got an idea," said Princess Miyuki. "Why doesn't Love sing us one of those sailors' songs for keeping time?"

            "I'm not really that good at singing," Love objected.

            "We're not really that good at rowing," Setsuna retorted. "But we're doing our best for you all the same." She remembered the strange energy she had felt flowing through her at Love's musicale. Now would be an excellent time for a little more of that.

            "That's true!" said Love. "All right, I'll do my best for you too." She hummed out a few bars, and then began to sing:

 

_Gather, my hearties, attend to my tale_

_Dip deep, and dodge the shoal_

_While I weave a story that's marvelous rare:_

_The Fisherman and his Soul_

_There once was a fisherman wrecked on a rock_

_As tides came rolling in_

_Left with nothing to do but to shout to the sky,_

_"God, cleanse me of all my sin!"_

            Despite Love's protests, she was a much better singer, Setsuna thought, than any of her crew were rowers. And she managed to keep working the sails even as she sang, without missing a note or forgetting a line.

_Then one little mermaid with eyes bright as pearls_

_And hair that froth'd like foam_

_Swam up and sang out in voice like the wind_

_"Sir, you must be far from home!_

_"I know no 'God' but I did hear your shout_

_I'll take you into my arms_

_And swim you to shore where you'll be safe and sound_

_From the sea's possible harms"_

_And so saying, she was as good as her word_

_She brought him to the edge of_

_The beach, where she left him, not knowing the fool_

_Had just gone and fallen in love_

            As the song went on, the boat gradually began to move faster and straighter, until they were skimming across the lake at a decent racing speed. Now and again it would start to drift left or right, but the very moment it did so, Love would turn to the rowers and, with some intuitively understandable gesture of her hands, signal who had to do what to get them back on course.

_The fisherman went to the priest of his town_

_And said, "Father, marry me_

_To my little mermaid, please join us as one_

_That I may live in the sea"_

_The priest was astonished, he said to the man,_

_"Son, you know not what you ask_

_Mermaids have no souls and to join with them is_

_Truly an unpleasant task_

_You must sail out to sea, bind together your legs,_

_Carve in your chest a hole,_

_And fall to the waves as you shout to the sky,_

_'God, I relinquish my soul!'_

_So give up this dream and forget how you feel_

_Forget the things that she said_

_Forget her pearl eyes and her soft, sea foam hair_

_Go find a woman to wed"_

_The man did not listen, he went out and bought_

_A boat, a rope, and a knife_

_And he never was seen by any human soul_

_Ever again in his life_

Setsuna's heart pounded heavily against her ribs, but it pounded to the beat of the music, and her arms moved to the same rhythm as they worked the oar. She was beginning to understand why sailors were notoriously superstitious. The song itself seemed to contain some of the dark, watery magic it told of, and if Setsuna were out in the middle of the sea with no land in sight instead of on a lake, she could easily see herself losing her grasp on logic as it filled her ears.

_Some say that he sunk to the bottom of the sea_

_Some that his bones washed ashore_

_But I know much better, so take it from me_

_He lives, he lives still for sure_

_With his little mermaid, to have and to hold_

 _His wife, his life, and his goal_

_And dwell they together in marital bliss_

_The fisherman and his soul_

            "I don't understand," said Setsuna when Love finally fell silent. "Why does he still have his soul in the end?" It was an inane question about an inane story. Fairy tales were, by their very nature, illogical. Still, the detail bothered her enough that she felt compelled to ask.

            Love winked at her. "The little mermaid _is_ his soul, in the end."

            "I grew up hearing a story a little bit like that," said Princess Miyuki. "Only backward. There was a mermaid who wanted to gain a soul so that she could become human and marry a human prince. It... didn't end well for her."

            "I've heard that one too," said Princess Miki. "And there's a Wellish folk tale that's a bit more like Love's song. The difference is that when the fisherman goes to cut out his soul, the soul takes on a life of its own and starts begging him not to. It offers him jewels and precious metals and rare spices, but the fisherman keeps saying that the little mermaid's love is worth more than those things. Then the soul offers to take him to see a famous dancer known for her beautiful long legs... and he agrees. It's a long journey, and when he comes back months later, he finds the little mermaid washed up dead on the shore, and kills himself out of grief. The priest finds their bodies, and has them buried out in the wilderness without any rites. But the next day, the hill they're buried under is covered with ethereally beautiful white lilies. The priest takes it as a sign from God, and prays to be forgiven for his heartlessness."

            They rowed on in silence for a minute before Inori said, "I think I like Love's mermaid story best.

            "Me too," said Princess Miki.

            "I... probably shouldn't." said Princess Miyuki. "It's really sacrilegious. But... the mermaid story I knew as a child always made me sad, so..."

            "Is this one really that much happier?" Setsuna asked. "The ending is ambiguous. The narrator says the fisherman is alive and happy, but he doesn't really have any way of knowing that."

            "Yes, I think it's uncertain on purpose," said Inori. "But I think we're supposed to believe anyway. It's a story about faith."

            "And hope," said Princess Miki.

            "And love," said Love.

            _It's a story about foolishness and suicide_ , Setsuna thought, but did not say so out loud.

            They reached the far side of the lake, and turned the boat around to row it back. Love sang the mermaid song again, and all the rowers joined in at the parts they remembered. Panting with exertion, Setsuna could manage only a couple of lines chanted out tunelessly under her breath:

 

            _So give up this dream and forget how you feel_

_Forget the things that she said_

            Somehow, Love heard her, and smiled at her encouragingly. More than the music, more even than the thought of returning to her room and getting into dry clothes, that smile gave Setsuna a jolt of fresh strength.

            Even with the wind no longer at their backs, they made surprisingly good time. When they reached the dock, Love leapt out onto the pier. After tying the boat securely, she helped up all of her crew one by one, taking them each by the hand and pulling them onto solid ground.

            Setsuna's legs wobbled a little as she disembarked, and she fell forward when Love tugged on her arm. Laughing, Love caught her against her chest, enveloping her in warm, strong arms and the smell of peach perfume. Such a strange choice of scent, Setsuna thought. Most girls she knew wore the fragrance of flowers, delicate and refined. Love's perfume was just as sweet, but also redolent of something that Setsuna could sink her teeth into, something that could fill her up with vitality.

            "We're going to do great on Starday," Love said, and Setsuna suddenly remembered to right herself and pull away. Starday and the boat race was four days away, Windday — and the group ride — only one.

            It was a test, Setsuna reminded herself. It was a test, and she had to pass it. It was a test, even if it wasn't.

            Everything must be given over for duty. Everything for country. Everything for family. Everything, everything, everything, even this girl so bright and sweet and soft and warm. If Setsuna could not live up to that, she was useless, worthless, wicked. She would not betray her father, betray the future of Jiyel itself, for a few kind words and gentle touches.

            "Yes," she said to Love. "I'm sure things will go just fine."


	11. Windday

            At breakfast, Love snuck a few lumps of sugar and slices of fruit into her napkin, which she then folded up and stuck in her trousers pocket before heading out to the stable. She found Desert Gold before the hands put his bridle on, and fed him the contraband straight from her palm. "You're going to take care of me today, aren't you?" she asked him.

            Desert Gold swung his head against her shoulder, which might have been a gesture of assent, or might just have been his way of asking for more treats.

            "Lady," said a passing stable hand, "the delegates are meant to wait at the trailhead while we ready the horses."

            "It's fine, I know her!" said Bukki, popping out of a neighboring stall before Love could apologize and leave. "She's a bit of a novice, and she practiced on DG, so I think it would be good for her to ride him today. Love, would you like me to show you how to tack him up yourself?"

            "Yes! I mean, if it's really all right." She looked to the stable hand, who simply shrugged a shoulder.

            "If Inori of Skalt says to do something, I know it's not going to hurt the horses. Far be it from me to tell a lady not to learn a few practical skills." Then he went on his way, leaving Bukki to walk Love through bridling and saddling Desert Gold. By the time the ride started and the two of them mounted up, they were already sweating and smelling like horse.

            "Miki's riding with Lord Shun," Love noted in a singsong.

            "He seems like a nice man," said Bukki. "He asked a lot of very intelligent questions during my lecture. They sat next to each other at that, too." She frowned suddenly. "Toes _forward_ , Love."

            "Could you not do that when we're in a group?"

            "I'm sorry, but it's very important! If your toes are out, you're squeezing with your calves, which means you're not holding on with your thighs, which means you could fall off, which would be a lot more embarrassing than me correcting you. And the constant pressure is also uncomfortable for Desert Gold."

            "It seems someone back there knows a lot about horses," Countess Northa called from the head of the group. "Inori of Skalt, isn't it? I understand you're quite the biologist."

            "That's overstating it a little," said Inori, blushing slightly.

            "Really? Then I suppose you couldn't tell me anything about those birds flying overhead?"

            Bukki squinted upward at a flock of small blue birds zipping around acrobatically above the riding group. "They look a bit like mud swallows," she said, "but their plumage is brighter, and I didn't think those came this far south. So... gentle swallows, maybe? The natural philosopher I invited over last week named them among the birds of Vail Isle."

            "An excellent deduction. And do you know why they're called that?"

            "Well, mud swallows are called 'swallows' because they gulp down whole, live insects in midair. It looks like these little fellows are doing the same thing. And the lecturer said the 'gentle' is because the males bring the females little flowers during courtship, like gentlemen."

            "Overstating things indeed!" exclaimed the countess. "Inori of Skalt, you simply must come ride beside me. You're as fit to lead a talk on the wildlife of the isle as I am."

            "Is that all right?" Bukki asked Love, who nodded emphatically. It would be good for Bukki to get a chance to show off what she could really do in front of her peers — and besides, it would give Love a reprieve from having her riding posture scrutinized.

            Bukki rode up to join Countess Northa, and for some ten or fifteen minutes, Love was left with no company but that of her horse. As they traveled farther and farther from the castle, the terrain shifted from gently rolling hills of grass to sharp, stony slopes and precipitous canyons. Love's seat bounced a bit as Desert Gold picked his way through the rocks, but not in a manner that made it difficult to stay on his back. If anything, it was fun.

            "Hello, Love," said Setsuna, riding up beside her. "It turned out to be a beautiful day for a ride, didn't it?"

            "Setsuna! Yes, I'm having a wonderful time, and you coming up to say hello to me makes me even happier!"

            "Well, you've never been shy about approaching me," said Setsuna, smiling coyly. "I supposed it was about time I got over my own shyness. Besides, I have something to show you. Would you care to follow me off the trail?"

            "Of course!" said Love, and Setsuna led her away from the rest of the group, to the edge of a nearby canyon.

            "Do you see that mass of sticks on the far cliff over there," Setsuna asked, pointing. Love nodded, and Setsuna removed a pair of binoculars from around her neck to offer them to her. "Look through these."

            It took Love a moment to relocate the pile of branches through the binoculars, and another to bring them into focus, but when she did, she gasped in delight. Two baby birds, fluffy and white and perhaps the size of a kitten each, peered back at her with round, black eyes. "Oh, they're adorable! They're like tiny bird-shaped clouds! Hello, babies! I want to pick you up and nuzzle your fuzzy little heads to my face!"

            "You'd have to make quite a climb to do that," Setsuna pointed out. "And I can't imagine their parents would be too pleased."

            "What _are_ their parents?" Love asked.

            "Why don't you lower those glasses and see for yourself? There's one flying over us now."

            Love looked up from the binoculars just in time to see an eagle splash into the stream and come away with a shiningly wet and desperately wriggling fish. "Oh! Oh, that's fantastic! But the poor fish."

            "It's for her family, Love," said Setsuna, a strange note of solemnity creeping into her voice as the eagle flew its catch up to the nestlings. "You do understand how nature works, don't you?"

            "Well, yes," Love said. "I eat fish too, so it's not like I can criticize." Still, she handed the binoculars back to Setsuna rather than taking another look through them at the nest. She'd cleaned fish before, on long voyages when the crew had caught them to supplement their food stores, but that didn't mean she particularly wanted to watch an animal be torn apart in her leisure time. Love cast around in her mind for a more pleasant topic of conversation, and finally settled on: "Do you ever wish you could fly like a bird?"

            "Not particularly," said Setsuna. "I've read too much about how they do it. They make it _look_ easy enough, but in reality it takes a tremendous amount of work."

            "Dancing is hard work too," Love pointed out. "But it's still something wonderful, isn't it?"

            "I suppose," said Setsuna. There was a moment of silence between them, and then she murmured something else, very quietly and under her breath.

            "What was that?" Love asked.

            "I said," Setsuna replied, turning to look at her with a strange, pained expression on her face, "when I dance with you, I do sometimes feel like I'm flying. And it is wonderful, and it is worth the work. It's worth... it's worth a lot. I want you to know that."

            "Thank you, Setsuna. That means a lot to me. But is something wrong?" Setsuna did not answer.

            The silence stretched on. After a minute or so, Love felt Desert Gold begin to shift his weight back and forth, as though growing anxious about something. _"Be aware of your horse!"_ Bukki's voice echoed in her head.

            "We should get back to the group," Love said. "I think my horse is starting to miss his friends."

            Setsuna appeared for a moment like she was going to object. Then, slowly, the odd look in her eyes faded, and a smile bloomed across her face. "You're right. We've been out here long enough." The two of them turned their horses around and headed back to the trail, which they then followed onward. Before long, they could see the rest of the group in the distance up ahead.

            "You look so happy," Love said to Setsuna. Beneath her, Desert Sun whickered and snorted and stumbled a bit over the rocks. She would have to ask Bukki about that, when they got close enough. "What happened all of a sudden?"

            "It's not happiness, really," said Setsuna. "More like relief. Would you think I was very silly if I said that, for a while back there, I had this nagging fear that one of us was going to fall into the ravine?"

            "Oh! Are you afraid of heights? I'm sorry, there I was talking about flying"

            "No, that's not it. At least, I'm not usually. It must be the combination of heights and horses. They really are unpredictable animals."

            No sooner had she said so than Desert Gold reared up onto his hind legs and very nearly sent Love tumbling backwards and headfirst onto the rocky ground.

            "Love!" Setsuna called out in horror. She reached for the reins that Love had dropped so that she could cling to Desert Gold's mane ( _"It's not like our hair, you won't hurt him if you pull it."_ ), and the crazed horse came inches from striking her head in with his hooves as he brought them back down.

            "I'm fine!" said Love. "He must just be a little— oh!" Her horse kicked out his hind legs behind him, sending her slamming forward against his neck. "Setsuna, get away! Something's really wrong!"

            "But you—!" She made another try for the reins, and for her trouble was kicked in the arm as Desert Gold reared up again. "Ah!"

            "Setsuna! Go!" For a moment, Setsuna only stared in shock. Then she retook up her own horse's reins and pulled him out of the way as Desert Gold bucked and reared and twisted and kicked, dancing foot by foot away from the path and toward the edge of the ravine.

            _Stand in the stirrups_ , Love recalled frantically. _Squeeze with your thighs. Heels down knees in toes forward, and if you have to fall... if you have to fall... if you have to... fall..._

She couldn't fall here. Grass or loose-packed dirt she could handle, but this? If she made the slightest mistake, she would crack her head open.

            "Love!" Somewhere, not too far away, Miki and Bukki called out to her. Love tried to look around for them, but was too disoriented to keep her directions straight as her horse turned and tossed her around. All she knew was that she was headed for the cliff — not quickly, but without any way of stopping.

            "Desert Gold, please," she said, making her voice as soothing as she could manage with her heart pounding in her throat. "I don't know what's wrong, but you're going to hurt yourself. You don't want that, do you? Don't you want to go home and eat apples and sugar lumps? I do."

            The cliff's edge loomed only a few feet away. Desert Gold reared up one more time, twisting his body around so that when his front hooves came down again, it would be on nothing but open air. Love wondered how long the fall would last. She wondered whether she would die when she hit the ground, or lie suffering and broken as her body wound down. She wondered—

            There was something between Desert Gold and the edge. Something yellow and tall as a person.

            It _was_ a person.

            It was Bukki. Love had not thought it was possible to feel fear any greater than what had already come over her, but suddenly, a fresh tide of it surged through her veins. Desert Gold was going to fall on Bukki, and they were all three going to die.

            But Desert Gold did not fall. He snorted, kicked his front legs out in the air, and teetered backward on his hind hooves.

            Love could not hold on anymore. With Desert Gold standing nearly straight up at a ninety-degree angle to the ground, she no longer even had a horse beneath her. She had nothing beneath her at all.

            A strange sense of calm struck her as her fingers slipped from her horse's mane. Bukki would be all right. Desert Gold would be all right. The only thing she wondered, this time, was whether Setsuna's arm would also be all right.

            "Got you," said Miki, and Love realized with a physical jolt that she had fallen into her arms.

            Unable to hold another woman's weight for very long, Miki set Love down on her feet. Before them, Desert Gold stood on all four legs, lifting and dropping his hooves at odd intervals, but otherwise still. Bukki ran her hands over his face and neck, murmuring, "It's okay, DG, baby, it's okay."

            "Where's Setsuna?" Love asked.

            "Here!" Setsuna called from where she sat mounted on her horse back by the trail.

            "How's your arm?" A wave of giddiness washed over Love at the realization that she was alive to ask.

            "How's _my_..?" Setsuna trailed off and just stared for a moment, before managing, "It isn't broken, if that's what you mean."

            "But it's hurt?" Miki asked, and Setsuna nodded. "Go back to the group and get Countess Northa to look at it. And tell her we're going to take Love and her horse back to the castle."      

            "I want to go with Setsu—" Love began to say, but Miki shot her a look that made her fall silent. Setsuna rode off without another word.

            Bukki, meanwhile, pressed herself up against the front of one of Desert Gold's forelegs and tapped him on the hock. He lifted his hoof for her, and she pulled something out from its underside. Then she went to one of his back legs and did the same thing.

            "He had thorns in _two_ of his hooves," she announced to Love and Miki.

            "Well, that explains a lot," said Love.

            "No, it doesn't," said Bukki. "Normally a horse with something hurting his foot will get lethargic and refuse to move, not do _that_. But these..." She held out her hand to Miki, displaying two large, wicked-looking spikes. "These are what I think they are, right?"

            "Fire thorns," Miki said grimly. She took them from Bukki, who returned to her own horse waiting patiently for her back by the trail. "Love, do you remember where Setsuna took you when she led you away from the group?"

            "Yes, right in front of the eagle nest. Why?"

            "Can you show us?" Miki asked. Love nodded, and led the way, her and Bukki walking their horses beside them instead of riding.

            "About here," she told them when they got close. Miki dismounted, kneeled down, and began to examine the ground. After a moment of searching, she brushed away a small pile of dead leaves and picked something up, then looked around for other piles of leaves and combed through them one by one. When she was finished, she had two handfuls of the same kind of thorn Bukki had found in Desert Gold's hooves.

            "I'm sorry, Love," she said. "I did tell you to be careful with her."

            "Careful with who?" Miki and Bukki exchanged a glance, and something in Love's mind jarred into place. "Wait. Setsuna? You think Setsuna..?"

            "It's a straightforward enough case," said Miki. "We have the physical evidence of the thorns, and the three of us to testify to where we found them. The whole group saw Lady Setsuna leading Love away and her horse nearly throwing her later when they came back. Bukki can probably get a stable hand or two to come forward and say that the wounds in the horse's feet are consistent with fire thorn pricks. That should be enough to get Lady Setsuna sent away from the isle, if nothing else."

            "I won't say anything about any of that!" Love said angrily. "If they make me, I'll tell them you're wrong!"

            "I know you're upset," said Miki. "But you can't just think of yourself. Having someone who would do something like this at the summit could be a danger to the whole world."

            "Miki's right," said Bukki, "And also, if you want to forgive Lady Setsuna for yourself, that's... well, I don't really understand it, but I guess it's your right. But you're not the only one she hurt. Desert Gold almost died too."

            "But it wasn't her!" Love insisted. "Setsuna would never try to hurt me! She tried to save me! She put herself in danger and nearly broke her arm, and I had to shout at her to stop before something worse happened to her!"

            "Then how do you explain this?" Miki asked, gesturing with hands full of thorns at the ground around them.

            "I don't know! Maybe someone's framing her. Or maybe someone wanted to hurt _her_ , and didn't realize she'd be bringing me along."

            "And you don't think it's at all unlikely that her horse just happened not to step on any thorns, while yours did?"

            "Maybe it's unlikely, but it's not impossible. And as long as it's not impossible, I'm not going to let you do anything that could end with Setsuna getting hurt!"

            Miki stared at Love, her eyes like cold blue stone and her silence every bit as severe. Love met her gaze without flinching, without even lifting a hand to wipe away the tears she could feel welling up.

            Finally, Miki looked away. "Sometimes I don't understand you at all," she said, and swept past Love without another glance her way.

            The tears began to fall down Love's face. Her foot stamped and her fists balled and a sob tore out from her lungs.

            "Um," said Bukki, taking Miki's horse's reins in hand, "you know she's just like that because she cares about you, right? That was really scary for all of us, and none of us want it to happen again."

            "I know," said Love. "But I don't know what to do, about her or about Setsuna! I just want everyone I care about to be happy! That's all I ever, ever want, and it shouldn't be that hard, but it is!"

            "I'm sorry," said Bukki. "I'm really, really sorry, and I wish I knew how to help, but I don't. And I know you don't want anyone to know about this, but I have to tell the stable hands at least a little about what happened, so they can treat Desert Gold's wounds the right way, and also so that he doesn't... get in trouble. I don't think they'll spread it around. They generally consider it not worth the hassle to get involved in anything that doesn't directly concern horses."

            "Fine," said Love.

            "Do you want me to take your horse too?" Bukki asked. "It's not really a good idea to... I mean, I wouldn't usually try to walk three horses at once, but if you need some time alone..." Love nodded and handed Desert Gold's reins to Bukki, who headed back toward the castle with all three horses trailing loyally after her.

            Love stayed behind, crying like a small child over a girl she had known for a week and a half, or maybe had never really known at all.


End file.
